Darkness Falls Upon Us
by Bl4ckC0bra
Summary: AU Where Neville is the Boy-who-lived and Harry is forced to grow up in an orphanage after a death eater attack killed his parents. Dark!Harry
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: In this story parseltongue will not be hereditary, but instead will show up at random. I know this isn't how it really happens in canon, but this is fanfiction for a reason._

_Chapter 2: The Mentor_

The sun had just started shining through the dust clouded windows of St Augustine's orphanage. The building from the outside appeared to be quite nice, it was a Victorian stile. But the inside was anything but. The walls which had once been painted a vibrant blue were now peeling and faded. Parts of the ceiling were missing, and the floors creaked with every step. As Quirinus _**Quirrell**_ stepped through the front door he was overwhelmed by the smell of mold and mildew. _It would seem that the funding for this place and its condition have only gotten worse since I was forced to live here_sneered a voice inside of his head. Trying to keep the disgust he was feeling off of his face, Quirrell walked briskly across the room to a desk where a lady that appeared to be in her late 40's was seated. She had light brown hair with a few streaks of gray, pulled back into a bun, and appeared to be about 5'6". The woman was reading what appeared to be a newspaper with a frown on her face. Not wanting to be here any long then he had to Quirrell rapped his knuckles on the desk to get her attention. The woman looked up surprise evident on her face. _Stupid muggle didn't even realize we were here; she would be dead by now if I had a body _the voice sneered again. Just as quickly as the surprise came it vanished and the frown came back. Seeing that she was about to open her mouth and likely start on some rant about scaring her Quirrell cut her off.

"I am here looking for a child by the name of Harry Potter."He told her.

"Harry Potter you say… well I can't say I have many people requesting to see him… after all who would want such a freak child." She informed him.

"Freak did you say? What is so freaky about him?" Quirrell could feel anger not his own starting to bubble and he wanted nothing more then to be somewhere else at the moment.

"Yes he is a freak and a trouble maker. Why I can remember one time real well. He had been outside all day, and when I came out to tell him to come in I find him hissing at a snake. Can you believe that, hissing as if the snake could understand him. Or another time when he and another boy went exploring up by some of those cliffs outside. They didn't return that day and so I went searching for them. I found him in a cave almost unharmed, but the other boy well he looked fine but when I tried to get him to move he couldn't and he said it felt like every muscle in his body was on fire. When I asked what happened he said that Potter boy had beat him up when he wasn't looking. Naturally I assumed this was true because of the freak's lack of injury, but I couldn't find any physical evidence of injury on the other boy either."

Quirrell's interest had been piqued, as well as his master's, when she had mentioned Potter hissing at snakes. Could it be the boy was a Parseltongue? But wouldn't that mean he had some connection to the Slytherin family? While being a Parseltongue was intriguing, the next part about the supposed fight was more interesting. By the way the boy described his injuries it sounded as if he had been held under a Cruciatus. Could it be possible that the boy had a wandless magic talent like his master? It seemed like his meeting with the young Mr. Potter was going to be more intriguing then he had originally thought. It seemed the woman was waiting for him to say something.

"Well, I still think I would like to meet with Mr. Potter anyway." Quirrell told her in a tone that signaled any attempt at persuading him otherwise was futile.

"If that is what you want, a warning though he is very closed off around people and does not take kindly to strangers." She told him.

"I thank you for the warning but I think I will be fine. Now please lead the way to his room."

Wordlessly the woman got out of her chair and started walking down a long hallway. Quirrell silently followed her barely taking in his surroundings as he pondered over the puzzle that was Harry Potter. After a short walk it seemed they had reached the end of the hallway, and the final room. She turned and faced Quirrell.

"This is his room, and you don't have to worry about privacy because no one stays in here but him." Then she turned and walked back down the hallway.

After she left Quirrell knocked on the door and waited until he heard a muffled 'come in' before entering. Quirrell made sure to close the door behind him to reduce the risk of being overheard. When he turned around again he got his first view of Harry Potter. At first glance the only thing that would seem out of the ordinary about the boy would be his vibrant green eyes that looked like they practically glowed. He appeared to be about average height for an eleven year old, with the same jet black unruly hair his father had. Aside from being a little skinny there were appeared to be numerous bruises on his arms and legs. His observations were cut short however when the boy asked him a question.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Harry asked.

Despite himself Quirrell couldn't help but laugh at the straightforwardness."Well Harry, my name is Quirinus Quirrell, and I am here to offer you a place at the school I teach at. But first let me ask you a question, do you believe in magic?" His tone may have seemed somewhat bored, but he was immensely curious as to what the child in front of him knew about the power he held.

The question obviously caught the young child off guard."Magic sir? There is no such thing as magic." Harry replied while looking at the man like he had grown a second head.

"I assure you Mister Potter that there is indeed magic, and people like me and you are capable of using it. Tell me have you ever done something you couldn't explain? Something you have never seen anyone else do?"

Harry took a moment to think about how to answer this. Yes he had done things he couldn't explain, but did that make them magic? Would this man think him a freak like everyone else if he told him about some of the things? He quickly decided against that, the man had said there were others like him, and he taught at a school for people like him. Making a decision to trust this man a little he nodded his head to indicate he had done things. With his interest piqued now, he began barraging the man with questions.

"Do you need something to do magic with? Can you show me some magic? What is this school called? What is this school like? How am I going to get there? What will I be learning when I am there? What will I need? And how am I going to pay for things that I do need?" All of this came out very quick and Quirrell had a hard time keeping up.

"Okay lets take this one question at a time shall we," he informed the now slightly out of breath child," Yes I can show you some magic, and yes in order to do magic most wizards and witches need to use a wand." and with that said he promptly conjured a chair to sit on. "The school is called Hogwarts. The school is separated into four houses. They are known as Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. You will get there by taking a train called the Hogwarts Express on September 1st. When you arrive there you will take boats across the lake surrounding the school, from there a teacher will take you into the Great Hall. The Great Hall is where all meals are held. Once in the Great Hall you will have to be sorted by a magical hat based on your personality. Gryffindors are known to be brave and chivalrous. Ravenclaws are the ones who value knowledge, so basically they are bookworms. Hufflepuffs value loyalty over everything else. And finally you have the Slytherins, who because they value ambition and cunning are usually referred to as dark and evil. This is not true; ambition simply means doing what it takes to achieve your goals. There are a variety of subjects you will cover once you start; some of them are transfiguration, charms, potions, and defense against the dark arts." Quirrell then stopped for a moment to pull a yellowish looking envelope out of his cloak and handed it to Harry. "Everything you will need to get is included on a list in that envelope. And lastly you will be using funds from a trust vault your parents set up for you. Ah, that reminds me I will be escorting you to Diagon Alley today which is where you will get all of your supplies." But Harry barely heard this part because his mind had been in a daze when he heard his parents mention and his eyes were a little unfocused. There seemed to be a slight glimmer of hope in his eyes as well.

"Parents? You know my parents?" The young boy questioned him.

"No, I did not know your parent's personally, but I did hear some things about them that I could tell you if you would like." At seeing the boy's head nodding frantically he continued," Your parent's names were James Potter and Lily Potter. James had hair much like your own, and hazel eyes. He was a gifted transfiguration student when he went to Hogwarts. Lily had auburn hair and green eyes like yours. She was gifted in Charms while at Hogwarts. Your father came from what is known as a Pureblood family, meaning there were no muggles in the family." At seeing the confused look on Harry's face Quirrell explained further "A muggle is a person with no magic." Once he got a nod of understanding he picked up where he had left off. "Your mother on the other hand was a muggleborn meaning she had come from a family where there were never any witches or wizards. In the Wizarding world there are three basic types of witches and wizards. Purebloods, Half-Bloods, and Muggleborns. Most would consider you to be a half-blood because your mother was a muggleborn, but some may consider you a first-generation Pureblood because both of your parents were magical. That is about all I know about your parents."

"You were talking about my parents in the past so does that mean they're dead now?" The question had escaped his lips before he could think and even though he wanted to know he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear it.

"Yes your parents are dead; it was a great loss to the magical community for two people so strong to be struck down so early." Quirrell stated.

"Sir, how were they killed?" now that he had started to ask about them Harry found himself wanting to know what had happened to land him in this place.

"Since you didn't even know magic existed until today I am going to tell you a brief story so that you can understand why your parent's were killed first." And so Quirrell began to tell him the tale of Lord Voldemort and his use of the dark arts, and how his parents had been part of a group to fight against him to protect the muggles and muggleborns, Quirrell noticed a slight narrowing of the eyes at that and filed it away, he told him briefly about the boy-who-lived, Neville Longbottom, and finally he came to recount how Harry's parents and their friends had been attacked at home.

After hearing this Harry was slightly angry, he couldn't believe his parents would protect the muggles. They had died protecting muggles, and because of that their only son was left to suffer at the hands of muggles, what irony. The muggles Harry had met at the orphanage had been nothing short of cruel. All of the other boys would always pick on him and steal his food. Yet, if he tried to get them back then Mrs. Lanning would punish him. And when she said punishment it wasn't the normal go to your room, it was a whipping with a belt. Not sure how Quirrell would react if he told him what he thought of muggles Harry decided a topic change was in order. Luckily Quirrell must have sensed his unease because he asked him a question.

"So Harry, the lady that led me to your room said you try and speak to snakes? Tell me, can you understand them?" Quirrell had been waiting through this whole discussion to finally get to a point where he could ask about the events that woman had mentioned.

Harry for his part was looking at the floor embarrassedly. Finally he gathered up his courage and answered, "I can talk to them and they can talk to me if that's what you mean." Mistaking the look of surprise on Quirrell's face for disbelief Harry tried to defend himself, "Wait, I can prove it. I just need a snake." Quirrell had become quite curious now, and so he offered to conjure a snake. Harry accepted the offer. And so with a silent spell and a slight twist of his wand a snake shot out of the end of Quirrell's wand and landed in the middle of the floor. The snake looked around and took in it's surroundings. It then began to hiss menacingly and slither towards Harry.

"Wait, I don't mean any harm" Harry hissed towards the snake. This froze the snake in its spot.

"Youssss ssspeaks?" Was all it managed to get out before Quirrell banished it. He sat there quietly contemplating the revelation that the Potter child was a Parseltongue.

"See," Harry stated with a smug little smile on his face," I told you I could do it."

"Yes, you did," responded Quirrell," but a word of caution, many people fear those who can speak to snakes, they are called Parseltongues, because it has been known as the mark of a dark wizard. "Waiting a minute for that to sync in fully, Quirrell then asked about the other incident. "I have one last question for you before we go to Diagon Alley to get your supplies Harry. Can you describe for me what you were feeling when you were up in the cave with that other boy." If Harry was surprised that Quirrell knew about that he didn't show it but instead answered the question.

"I was angry," he started but then his face became a little cloudier," No that's wrong I was more then angry. Steve always picks on me and beats me up, so sometimes I would go up to the caves to just hide. One day he followed me up to them and beat me up there. It was like something inside of me had it though. And I wanted him to feel the pain he was putting me through, and then… I just blacked out. When I woke up Mrs. Lanning was yelling at me because she thought I had attacked Steve. I don't even remember what happened yet I know I did something."

"Interesting." Quirrell mumbled. To cause a wandless Cruciatus to happen, and so young is an amazing feat of accidental magic. The boy must be exceptionally powerful. With the right training he could become a great ally in the future. Maybe, maybe I should offer to mentor the boy this year. I could slowly fuel the boys hate and anger towards the muggles and essentially I would be turning him against the Light side to. Yes, he decided, before I leave him later I will ask if he wants me to tutor him in advanced material. And with that decided he addressed the young boy across from him again.

"Well now if you are ready we will go inform Mrs. Lanning that you will be attending school for the year, and that we are leaving now to gather your supplies." When he got an affirmative nod he rose from the chair he had sat himself on and began to make his way towards the door. But remembering something he stopped and turned around.

"When we are in public I must pretend to talk with a stutter, and please don't ask why just know that it is something I must do for now." He could tell Harry was confused but the boy nodded none the less. With that cleared up he again started his walk towards the door.

As Harry followed his soon to be Professor through the door of a pub called the Leaky Cauldron, he immediately began taking in everything around him. He noticed several platters floating by themselves to tables, and some dishes cleaning themselves as well. He was snapped out of his observations when professor Quirrell began talking to him.

"Try and keep up I don't want to lose you in this crowd. Hopefully we can make it through the Pub and to the Alley before another…" he was cut off though as a huge giant like man came over to them. He was closely followed by a girl with bushy brown hair and what appeared to be overly large front teeth.

"'Lo Professor Quirrell," the giant man greeted Quirrell.

"Why he-he-llo th-th-ere Rubeus." answered Quirrell.

While Harry was momentarily confused as to why his soon to be teacher was now stuttering he let it go and decided on asking the man later. Instead he chose to observe the girl who had come with the giant. It appeared she couldn't take the quiet anymore though and she started talking to him.

"Hi isn't this just so wonderful, I mean we get to learn magic. I can't wait till I get my books so I can start learning right away. When I asked Hagrid what Hogwarts was like he said it was amazing and that there would never be a dull year because I was going the same time as the boy-who-lived. And when I asked him who the boy-who-lived was he told me the most amazing story. Have you heard it? I mean it's so amazing that Neville could defeat a man that no one else could. Oh my where are my manners, I am Hermione Granger." She said all of this in a rushed tone.

"Harry Potter" he informed her. Harry looked at the girl again and decided he would avoid her at all costs. She was just too excitable, and not only that but he could practically see stars in the girl's eyes when she started talking about the boy-who-lived. The last thing he wanted was some little fan-girl constantly telling him about the great Neville Longbottom. It appeared as though the giant and Professor Quirrell were done speaking, as Quirrell had started walking away so Harry began to follow him. After all the last thing he wanted was to be left behind with that man and the over-excited beaver girl. Quickening his pace to keep up with his Professor he was more then a little surprised when they stepped out the back door only to come face to face with a brick wall. His shock must have been evident on his face as Quirrell gave him a little smirk then pulled out his wand and tapped the bricks. For a moment nothing happened, and then the bricks began to pull themselves apart and revealed a whole new street with shops lining either side of it. Turning to his Professor he asked where they would be going first.

"Our first stop is going to be Gringotts Wizarding Bank so we can get you some money for supplies." His professor informed him in a whisper so as not to be overheard without a stutter. And then he began walking towards a large building in the center of the Alley which looked to be made entirely of white marble. As they walked up the stairs towards the doors Harry noticed a plaque with writing on it. Silently he read it to himself.

_Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there._

If the warning was a shock he was again shocked by the creatures that were running the bank. They were short with pale skin and white hair. There ears with long and pointed, and there faces seemed to be set in permanent frowns.

"Professor," Harry questioned, "what are they?"

"Goblins, they can be nasty if not given the proper respect so just let me handle this."Quirrell informed him. Harry was more then happy to oblige as the goblins looked intimidating. As they approached one of the tellers Quirrell began speaking.

"Hello, I am here with Harry Potter and he needs to make a withdrawal for his school supplies."

"Very well, does Mr. Potter have his key?" the goblin asked.

"Yes, I have Mr. Potter's key because he has been living in a muggle orphanage."Quirrell informed the teller.

"Fine, please wait a moment," and with that the teller walked away, a few moments later he came back with another goblin."Griphook will take you to the vault. Next!"

The cart ride that lead to the vaults left harry feeling very sick to his stomach, and Quirrell appeared to be slightly off-balance.

"Lantern please." The goblin stated in a bored tone. Harry passed the lantern to him and they started on a short walk to vault number 687. Once they were there the goblin spoke again.

"Key please." It stated in that same bored tone. Harry took hold of the lantern as the goblin grabbed the key and proceeded to open the door. Inside there were mounds of gold, bronze and silver coins. It was then that Harry realized he had no clue how much each of the coins was worth. Turning to his Professor he asked the man about the value of each.

"Don't worry about the bronze and silver coins ,which just so you know are called knuts and sickles respectively, but the gold ones are called galleons if you fill two or three of your money bags with them we will have enough for your supplies." Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to have extra money incase he wanted more of an item then what was required Harry filled five bags with galleons. Now that he had money Harry was eager to begin his shopping trip. He planned on spoiling himself a bit to make up for lack of supplies at the orphanage over the years. He had just started walking for the door when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see Professor Quirrell beckoning him off to the side. Confused, Harry followed to see what the professor wanted.

"Harry I wanted to ask you a question before we start, you may need certain supplies depending on your answer," Professor Quirrell could clearly see the confusion on the young boy's face, " I would be willing to offer extra lessons to you during the year, sort of like advanced training. Would you be interested in taking it, we would cover not only the classes from school, but also some advanced techniques you could use in future careers." Having never had anyone care enough to help or even offer extra help to him Harry was thrown for a second. Once it started to sink in though he liked the idea more and more. Perhaps Professor Quirrell could teach him ways to make those muggles at the orphanage leave him alone. Yes, he was really beginning to like this idea.

"Yes Professor that would be great, and I promise to do my best so I won't let you down or waste your time."

So caught up in his ideas of what he might be learning Harry failed to see the smirk that spread on his professor's face. His master had used some subtle legilemency on the child while he had been deciding to take the lessons or not, and with the hatred of muggles already there it would be too easy to corrupt the young Potter.

"I am sure you won't let me down Harry, I can sense great potential in you. But for now take the list I gave you earlier and go get the required items, I will gather up everything you need for our private lessons." With that said Quirrell began walking away leaving harry to get his school supplies, all the while he was planning on how to fuel the hatred the child had.

Upon looking at his list Harry decided the first thing he would get would be the robes as it would most likely be the most time consuming thing for him today. So he casually walked out of the bank, and began looking around until he spotted a place called _**Madam Malkin's**_ Robes for All Occasions. Deciding that would be the most likely spot to get his robes for Hogwarts, he entered. Almost at once he was being questioned by a woman.

"Hogwarts, dear?" After he gave her a polite nod indicating she was correct she began to shuffle him over to a stool to stand on next to a boy with pale skin and blond hair.

"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"My father's next door buying my books, and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. It's just not fair."

Harry nodded, not really having his own opinion on the matter. In all reality he was trying to keep himself from insulting the boy because he didn't want to make enemies with someone before he even got to school. The boy's voice broke him from his thoughts though.

"So where are your parents?"

"Dead." Harry replied

"Oh, I am sorry" the blond boy replied," Were they our kind?"

"If you mean a witch and wizard then yes, they were."

Further conversation was halted when the lady who had ushered him over to the stool came over with his robes. After paying and thanking her he was about to leave when the blond boy's voice stopped him.

"I am terribly sorry I forgot my manners, I am Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." The boy held out his hand.

Reminding himself that he wanted friends not enemies he turned around and introduced himself.

"I am Harry Potter" He briefly shook the boys hand and then turned and left.

Meanwhile in Knockturn Alley a man was getting ready to close his shop early when someone came in. Couldn't they see he was closing? As he was going up to confront the man he suddenly got a good look and stopped dead in his tracks. Staring back at him was a pair of glowing red eyes.

"Hello Borgin" the man greeted in a cold voice that came out more like a hiss.

"Mas-Mas-ter it is s-o good to s-s-ee you again" by now Borgin was on the floor cowering.

"_Crucio_" The man watched on as Borgin writhed on the floor, his screams were like music. "I need something that will remove any Ministry monitoring wards on a wand Borgin, and it would be in your best judgment to get it now." As the man was released he wasted no time in getting what his Master had requested. He handed over a bottle containing a dark blue potion and began telling the Dark Lord how to use it.

"All you have to do is pour this over the wand, and say the words _exonero absisto custodia."_

"Very good Borgin." The Dark Lord took the potion from the cowering man's hands and began to walk towards the door. Once outside of the building he put Quirrell back in control of the body, after all it wouldn't do to scare away the young Potter.

Back out in Diagon Alley Harry had collected most of his required items. The only things left he had to get were the books and a wand. And most likely he would get an owl if for nothing other then some company during the summer other then his snake. Deciding on getting the wand last Harry made his way too Flourish and Blott's. As he made his way through the small crowd gathered in the store he caught sight of a familiar patch of bushy brown hair. He almost groaned out loud in annoyance. Hopefully if he stayed on the opposite side of the store she wouldn't notice him. As he worked his way through the list of books things seemed to be going according to plan, and she hadn't noticed him yet. How ever, like all good things it didn't last. As he was looking through a book he had found interesting, _The Greatest Dark Lords and Their Stories_, he heard that annoying voice right behind his ear. Spinning around he found himself face to face with the girl and no one to save him from her babbling.

"Hello again. It's such a coincidence that we met up again. I mean really what are the odds…" At this point Harry promptly tuned her out and continued working his way through the book list occasionally stopping to pick up a book that seemed interesting. As he finished and went up to pay he was resigning himself to having to put up with her, but luckily Professor Quirrell decided to turn up at that moment. As he spotted me he came over and asked if I was finished.

"No, almost though, all I have left is my wand and a pet if I want."

"That is fine, but we must hurry because its getting late and we have a few more things to discuss when you get back to the orphanage."

For a moment confusion was evident on Harry's face then a sudden dawn of understanding hit him. The private lessons. Professor Quirrell had said that he would gather things they would need for them. He probably wanted to show him what he needed to know for their first lesson.

Feeling grateful for an excuse to leave the annoying girl behind Harry told her he needed to get a wand, and get back with Professor Quirrell. She seemed saddened by this, but then seemed to brighten up and rambled something about seeing him on the train before dashing off. Harry had to physically hold himself back from smashing his head against the wall. Seeing that Professor Quirrell was getting impatient Harry quickly grabbed his things and stored them in the new trunk he had gotten earlier, which was charmed to be feather light. Together the two of them made the relatively short trip across the road to Ollivander's. Hanging right below the name was a smaller sign that read: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. The shop which had looked very small from the outside seemed to expand backwards forever with rows upon rows of boxes, which presumably held wands in them.

"I was wondering if I would be seeing you Mr. Potter."

Jumping in fright Harry quickly turned around to see an old man with, silver eyes and white hair staring back at him."Umm..hello..I..I..need..a..wand.." The old man had scared him so bad he couldn't even form complete sentences without stuttering.

"Yes it would appear that way," replied the old man, presumably Mr. Ollivander, "Well let's get started then shall we, which is your wand arm?"

"I am right-handed, sir" Harry responded. He was unprepared for a tape measure to suddenly fly out and start taking all different types of measurements and therefore almost fell over. As quickly as it started the measuring stopped, and then Mr. Ollivander disappeared in the back when he reappeared he was carrying a box with him.

"Try this wand Mr. Potter, Beech-Wood and Dragon Heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and Flexible. Just give it a wave." Harry did as he was told, but almost immediately the wand was snatched out of his hand. And so that's how it went for the next half an hour. Wand after wand was given to him only to be taken out of his hand.

"My, my you are a tricky customer." If anything this seemed to make Mr. Ollivander even happier. After another half an hour of trying the man's excitement seemed to be leaving him. Just as their seemed to be no hope of Harry getting a wand, Mr. Ollivander seemed to regard him curiously before going into the back and coming out with a wand that appeared to be solid black.

"This wand Mr. Potter, I have never been able to find a match for and as such it had been almost forgotten. But, since you seem to have exhausted all of my other wands I don't see what the harm in letting you try this one is." And with that said he handed Harry the wand. As Harry grabbed it he suddenly felt a surge go up his arm, and as he waved it black sparks shot out of the tip. Looking around to the other two people, Professor Quirrell seemed relieved that he had gotten a wand, but also curious as to why no one else had taken the wand. But it was Mr. Ollivander's reaction that would shock him the most. The man was looking at him with a hint of fear and sadness. Curiosity getting the better of him, Harry asked Mr. Ollivander what was wrong.

"That wand is a symbol of death and destruction. The wood was from a burned ash tree, while the core is a thestral hair. The wand is 11 inches, and it is nice and flexible. Perfect for the Dark Arts. I can only hope, Mr. Potter, that I won't regret selling that wand." This revelation left Harry in a kind of stupor, and he barely noticed as he took out the seven galleons to pay, and was guided to the Leaky Cauldron by Professor Quirrell.


	2. Chapter 2

As Professor Quirrell and Harry entered the orphanage Mrs. Lanning looked up from her desk. After a quick discussion between her and Quirrell, in which he informed her that he would escort Harry back to his room, and that he would be back on September 1st to pick him up for school the pair quickly made their way down the hall. Once inside the room Quirrell began talking.

"Harry do you remember how I told you I would pick up some supplies you would need for our private lessons," at seeing the affirmative nod from the child he continued, " Well I picked up two items today, one I will give you now, and the other you shall receive on Christmas." With this said he proceeded to remove a small book from his cloak and handed it to Harry who inspected it curiously.

"Sir, what is Occlumency?" the boy asked.

"Occlumency is the art of protecting ones mind from an outside source," seeing the confusion on the boy's face Quirrell began explaining a little more," some of the teachers at school such as Headmaster Dumbledore and Severus Snape the Potions master can read your mind with the help of Legilemency." Harry looked a little shocked at this revelation.

"So, if they wanted to they could read my mind all the time and find out if I was lying?" Quirrell nearly applauded the young boy in front of him, he was very quick on the uptake.

"Yes, but if you learn Occlumency you can block them. Occlumency can be very difficult and will take many years to master, but if you practice using that book and follow the instructions in it every night until your first day of school then you should be able to hide your memories enough that they won't notice. After all, no one expects an eleven year old child to come to Hogwarts knowing Occlumency."

Harry took a moment to get all of his thoughts organized. The fact that someone could just rifle through his head was a bit unnerving, and he swore to practice Occlumency every chance he got. But he also wondered why he would need to hide memories in the first place. Sure it could be useful for getting out of trouble if he caused an accident, and to hide the private lessons, but why did the lessons need to be hidden. Finding himself starting to get frustrated he asked the Professor in front of him.

"Ah… you see Harry, not everyone will approve of what I will be teaching you. Because while in class you will learn how to cast spells I will be teaching you how to use them in a duel or fight. I will also teach you some harder spells as the year goes on, but most of our lessons will involve practical application of spells you already know. Now one last thing to discuss before I leave you for the night. Your wand. Mr. Ollivander said that it was perfect for the Dark Arts, and I believed I mentioned them when I told you about the Dark Lord right?" Again he received a positive nod, "Many people in the Wizarding world believe that those who practice the Dark Arts are evil. This statement is completely wrong. While some people can be taken over by the immense feel of pleasure and power they give those who have a strong will power can use the dark arts without being effected too much. In order to keep you from being consumed by the Dark Arts you should not start using them until your summer after your third year at Hogwarts. But I have gotten slightly off topic, the most important thing I wanted you to remember was, dark does not equal evil. " With that last statement Quirrell stood up and with a soft pop he disappeared leaving behind one tired yet confused Harry Potter.

The next day Harry woke up and almost immediately yesterday's events came back to him. He was a Wizard! And he was going to leave this orphanage for almost a whole year! Not only that but Professor Quirrell had offered to give him advanced lessons. Everything seemed too good to be true, so in order to reassure himself Harry reached under his pillow and grasped for his wand. To his immense relief his hand closed around the skinny piece of wood. But this brought with it a new string of thoughts to him. Why had Mr. Ollivander looked so sad when he had given the wand to him? Was he afraid that Harry would be consumed by the Dark Arts? How could anyone label a young child like that based on a wand? Seeing that he was getting more questions then answers, and not feeling very hungry Harry pulled out the book that his Professor had given to him and began reading.

The first chapter of the book was called Finding Your Focus. As he started reading Harry found that some of the words were too big for him, but he managed to get through none the less. The chapter gave a brief description of what Occlumency was and the proceeded to give instructions on starting it. In reality what you were doing was building a wall around your mind. It seemed simple enough Harry thought. The best way to start was to learn to meditate. So following the books instructions Harry set to work trying to meditate. The book said the easiest way to do this was to concentrate on one thing and let it be your only thought. Now for a full grown wizard or witch this may seem simple, but to an eleven year old who has just learned he is a wizard there was a multitude of thoughts to choose from. Eventually after half an hour of trying multiple images and nothing happening Harry began to become impatient and decided to try more later.

Not really wanting to be hassled by the other boys or Mrs. Lanning today he picked up his other textbooks for school and began reading. He found Transfiguration to be incredibly interesting. The thought of being able to turn one thing into another just seemed fascinating. Idly he wondered if you could transfigure humans. Pushing that to the back of his mind, and mentally reminding himself to ask Professor Quirrell about that later he continued reading. By the time noon had rolled around Harry had become hungry. He knew lunch was being served, but didn't really want to go face the others. He gave in though when his stomach rumbled rather loudly in protest to the thought of skipping lunch.

As Harry walked down the narrow hallways until he reached the tiny cafeteria, he was praying that the others would just leave him alone. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he had entered the room someone was in front of him. _Great just what I need_, thought Harry, as he looked up to see the face of none other then Steve. While it was true that everyone made fun of him, most of the time it was Steve that did all the physical harm. Looking around Harry noted the absence of . _What a surprise_, he thought wryly, _she always seems to disappear just as these things happen. _Deciding to try and head off the fight Harry started talking.

"Listen Steve, I don't want any trouble. I am just looking to get something to eat then I am going back to my room."

"Aww look guys" he said rather loud so everyone can hear, "Potty doesn't want to play today." To Harry's immense annoyance the others began snickering.

Seeing that this wasn't going to work Harry went with plan B. He made a mad dash for the food and grabbed a few pieces of bread. He then started running for the door again narrowly dodging Steve's arms which tried to grab him. After Harry got back and closed his door he took a moment to catch his breath. After catching his breath, Harry sat on his bed and began to eat. When he was done he laid down and drifted into an easy sleep.

When he woke up it had gotten late and the stars were just starting to come out. Looking out his window Harry suddenly got an idea of what image to use for his Occlumency shield. Sitting back and closing his eyes he focused on the pitch blackness of the night sky with the stars twinkling in it. He could feel the dark blanketing his mind and was immensely proud of himself, but almost as soon as it had gotten there it left. As his eyes opened again he got hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion. Remembering what his Professor had said about Occlumency being difficult he concluded that he had managed to get this far on the first day was good. And so it was with those happy thoughts and feelings of pride that he fell asleep.

That was basically how the days leading up to September first went. He would wake up practice his Occlumency for a while, and then Harry would go and grab lunch. After that he would head back to his room and read his textbooks he had tried a few of the spells in his books and had gotten some results. He could now cast a charm that would levitate a book. He hadn't managed to lift anything heavier yet. And he had practiced transfiguring a wood splinter into a needle, but had only gotten a slightly silver gleam to appear. After his practice and reading sometimes he would grab a small dinner, and then he would head back and practice Occlumency again.

It was the night before he would be leaving, and Harry was sitting practicing his Occlumency. He could now hold the very frail wall he had developed for about 20 minutes. While it wasn't very long he hoped Professor Quirrell would be happy with his progress. Finding his thoughts beginning to wander and losing concentration Harry decided to call it a night. After all he didn't want to be exhausted for his trip tomorrow.

It was 9 o'clock and Harry had finished packing. And now all he had to do was wait for Professor Quirrell. Trying to pass the time quicker Harry pulled out his train ticket and examined it. _Platform 9 ¾?, _he thought_, good thing Professor Quirrell is taking me I don't think I would be able to find it without him. _Looking down at his slightly beat up watch he saw that only three minutes had passed. With a groan Harry through himself back onto his bed and waited. After what seemed like hours, but was only twenty minutes he heard the click of the door handle being turned. Looking up over his stomach he saw professor Quirrell standing in the doorway.

" I trust you have everything packed and are ready to go?" Professor Quirrell asked.

"Yes, sir." Harry responded.

"Good now, how did that assignment I assigned you go?" he asked with interest.

"It went well, sir, I can now hold a thin wall for twenty minutes."

"That is indeed a fine accomplishment." Quirrell praised and Harry having received so little of that thus far in his life seemed to glow." But enough chat we must get to the station and get you on the train. I still have to get back to Hogwarts in time to finish setting up , after all." With that Quirrell pulled out his wand and shot two quick spells at Harry's trunk. Seeing the confusion and interest on the boy's face he elaborated." One was a feather light charm, and the other was a touch activated size charm. Simply touch it with your wand to shrink it or enlarge it." When Harry touched the trunk it shrunk down to the size of a match box, picking it up he put it in the pocket of his robes.

"Good now that everything is taken care of we can go, hold onto my arm I will side-along apparate us there." Doing as he was told Harry felt the sensation of being squeezed through an extremely tiny pipe. Once the sensation faded he looked around and got his first look at King's Cross. It appeared to be a normal muggle station. Seeing his Professor already moving Harry followed him. Professor Quirrell then stopped right in between platforms nine and ten.

"You need to run at the wall in front of us, it is an illusion used to hide the platform." Quirrell explained.

Trusting the Professor, Harry took off running at the wall and to his relief he passed right through. Turning around he saw his Professor had followed him through.

"This is where I leave you. I would assume you can figure out how to get on the train from here." Not waiting for an answer Professor Quirrell promptly turned and with a soft pop he disappeared.

It was when Harry turned around that he got his first view of the train that would be taking him to Hogwarts. It was a large bright red steam engine. On the front in gold lettering was the number 5972. And even Harry had to admit that with all the families bustling around and the train in the background that the whole place just screamed welcoming. After taking a few more minutes to observe the train he worked his way over to the door, and on to the train in search of a compartment.

After walking to the end he found a compartment that was empty and decided to sit there. Taking out his trunk he tapped it with his wand and pulled out one of his textbooks to read before putting the trunk in the luggage rack. Harry didn't know how long he had been reading, but when he looked out the window the train was moving so he assumed at least half an hour had passed. Deciding to try and sleep so he wouldn't be tired at the feast and sorting later he leaned back and closed his eyes. Just as he started to drift off he heard his compartment door open, and a voice he did not want to hear started speaking. Opening his eyes Harry confirmed what he already knew, the beaver girl had found him.

"Oh my it's you again. I had hoped to see you on the train. But I can't talk too much now because I am helping Neville find his toad. I don't supposed you have seen it." She asked him.

"No I have not seen his dumb toad and I would appreciate it if you and your mess of frizz that you call hair would leave my compartment now." Harry responded irritated.

"I just asked you a question there was no reason to be rude." She huffed and then left slamming the compartment door in the process. _Good_, Harry thought, _maybe she will leave me alone now_. Harry again tried to fall asleep and almost made it only to be interrupted by someone else opening the door. Opening his eyes to see who was disturbing him now he saw a medium height boy with tan skin and dark hair. The boy's eyes were blue. By his appearance the boy was a first year just like Harry, himself, was.

"Hello, do you mind if I sit in here with you?" The boy asked politely.

"No I don't mind, but if you are looking for conversation I am not the person you are looking for." Harry told him honestly. After all he didn't have much experience with talking to people his own age except when he was in a fight.

"That's fine I prefer to just read my books anyway. By the way my name is Terry Boot." The boy told him.

Deciding it wouldn't hurt to be friendly Harry greeted him. "Nice to meet you Terry my name is Harry Potter." After he said this he held out his hand and Terry shook it briefly. Figuring he wouldn't get much sleep Harry pulled out the book on Dark Lords he had picked up from Flourish and Blott's and began reading. Terry raised his eyebrow a little at the choice of book, but said nothing. So that's how most of the train ride went with the two boys sitting reading in silence. Towards the end of the ride though they received some unwelcomed guests.

Two boys burst into their compartment; one was a gangly red-haired boy with freckles, hand-me-down robes, and a smudge of dirt on his nose. There was a chubby boy, who seemed to look down on them as if they were lower then him. He also happened to be the one who talked first.

"I am Neville Longbottom, the boy-who-lived, and I order you to tell me if you have seen my toad." The chubby boy said arrogantly.

Looking over to Terry Harry could see the boy was trying to stop himself from laughing at the boy. Making eye contact with him Harry mouthed the words arrogant idiot, and this set Terry over the edge. He started snickering and tried to cover it as a cough , but Neville noticed.

"Think something is funny do you? Come on share then, we all want to laugh." Neville said this in that same arrogant tone. And the redhead was nodding along absent mindedly.

Not giving Terry a chance to answer Harry spoke first. " He is laughing at the fact that your head looks like an over inflated balloon." After saying this Harry started to laugh along with Terry.

"How dare you! I am the boy-who-lived! You cannot insult me, I am the reason the dark lord was killed." If anything Neville seemed to puff up even more making him look more like an over inflated balloon. This set Terry and Harry laughing again. Seeing that they wouldn't be getting a reaction out of the two here Neville and the redhead left.

After another few minutes of laughing the boy's looked up and smiled at each other.

"That was great, Harry." Terry said, " I thought for sure he was going to pop if he kept puffing up."

"Thanks, but I didn't do anything besides tell the truth." Harry responded somewhat embarrassedly.

"So , what house do you think you will be in Harry?"

"I don't know, but I am hoping for Slytherin, but Ravenclaw doesn't sound too bad either." Harry responded, " What about you?"

"Ravenclaw is the only house for me. I absolutely love to read and gain new information."Terry told him.

Further conversation was halted as a voice rang out announcing they would be arriving at Hogwarts in fifteen minutes. Terry wasn't in his robes so he had to change. Soon enough the two boys could feel the train slowing down, signaling they had reached the station. As they grabbed their trunks and got off the train they heard someone calling the first years over.

" Firs' years o'er here." Turning to the see who was calling Harry recognized the giant man Professor Quirrell had been talking with when they went to Diagon Alley. It seemed he was leading them down by a lake, and there were boats. The giant told them to get in a boat, but no more then four each. Terry and Harry quickly got in a boat, and were soon joined by two girls who introduced themselves as Padma and Parvati Patil. The ride across the lake was fairly short, but the view was absolutely breath taking. The castle seemed to glow with the moon behind it and the light from windows spilling onto the lake's surface.

Once they reached the other side there was a set of rocky stairs that they had to climb in order to get to the castle. Once they reached the top they were greeted by a stern looking woman.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here." She said.

"O' course Professor McGonagall." And with that Hagrid turned and headed back down the stairs.

Wordlessly she beckoned for them to follow her. After another short walk they reached a large door. Professor McGonagall opened it and walked in. As they enter what appeared to be a waiting chamber Harry took in his surroundings. He didn't get to far in his observations because Professor McGonagall had begun talking.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. In just a few moments you will be sorted. Until then please wait here. I will come and fetch you when it is time. Also I suggest you take the time to smarten yourselves up a bit." With that said she turned walked through a door on the other side of the room, and all the students were left to talk. Harry and Terry were again recounting the episode from the train with Longbottom to each other. They were cut off though when a girl gave a loud shriek. Turning to see what the noise was about the two noticed a few ghosts who appeared to be arguing. Just then a rather large ghost spoke loudly.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance—"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost—I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. (p Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.)

Seeing that nobody else was going to answer the ghost Harry told him.

"We are the first year students waiting to be sorted."

"Excellent, hope to see you in Hufflepuff," said the Friar," My old house you know."

"Come along now." said a sharp voice," The sorting ceremony's about to begin."

Because of the ghosts the students had missed Professor McGonagall returning to get them.

"Form a line and wait for your name to be called before going to the front of the Great Hall." The students all did as they were told. Harry stood behind Terry. As she led them through the door she had used earlier the students received their first view of the Great Hall. There were four long tables, _one for each house_ thought Harry. There was also a table at the front where older witches and wizards sat. _Those must be our teachers_. But what stood out the most was the stool up at the front of the hall, and on top of the stool sat an old looking wizard hat. As they entered the Great Hall quieted down. And up in the front the brim of the hat opened, and it began to sing.

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends;  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

Everyone applauded once it had finished its song. Once everyone had quieted down again Professor McGonagall went up to the front and started speaking again.

"When I call your name, please come up and put the sorting hat on.'

"Abbot, Hannah!'

HUFFLEPUFF!

Bones,Susan!

HUFFLEPUFF!

Boot, Terry!

RAVENCLAW!

And so that was how the sorting went. Each person had a varying amount of time. Everything seemed to be going good until Professor McGonagall called out.

"Longbottom, Neville!"

Whispers began to spread through the hall.

"_The_ Neville Longbottom…"

"Can you see his scar?"

Neville strode confidently to the front of the room, and put the hat on. Silence filled the hall everyone waiting to see where the savior would be sorted. Most expected Gryffindor, but there were a few skeptics. As the time passed Neville's face seemed to be going paler and paler he almost looked to be pleading with the hat now. Finally, he seemed to brighten up just as the hat opened its brim and shouted for all to hear.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Longbottom practically ran to his new table. He had to come back to the front though because he had forgotten to take the hat off. Once everything was returned the sorting continued again. Finally Professor McGonagall came to Harry's name.

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry was walking up he chanced a glance at the table of professors. He saw that Professor Quirrell seemed to be watching with attention now. When he put the hat on it was too big so it fell forward covering his eyes.

_Ah hello there young Potter_, a voice said inside of his head. This did not startle him much because Professor Quirrell had explained how he would be sorted. Not sure if the hat wanted a reply Harry just sat quietly. The voice spoke again.

"_Lets see what's inside your head shall we. Oh my, you have a thirst for knowledge, yes Ravenclaw would suit you well. But then again maybe not for you seek to use that knowledge for things that Rowena would not have approved of. What else do we have here? Ah a dislike of the muggles because they have hurt you. Hmm… you are brave but not recklessly so, therefore Gryffindor is out, and you are only loyal to those that you feel have earned it. So the choices are Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Which one do you think Mr. Potter?"_

"I don't know, isn't that your job, to pick the house?" Harry thought back sarcastically.

"_Oh yes there is no choice then. Let _SLYTHERIN!_ guide you on your quest to prove yourself Mr._ _Potter."_

As Harry took the hat off and began walking towards the table of serpents he looked again to the professors' table. Quirrell seemed to be pleased by his house. But next to Quirrell sat a greasy haired man that resembled a bat, and he seemed to be torn between curiosity, surprise, and anger. Harry took a seat at the end of the table away from the rest of the first years. He had noticed the pale blond boy from Madam Malkin's and did not want to be bothered by him. The rest of the sorting seemed to pass in a blur with the final person, a tall dark skinned boy by the name of Blaise Zabini being sorted into Slytherin. Blaise took a seat across from Harry, and then the Headmaster stood up.

"Welcome" he said" Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our feast I would like to say a few words, and they are Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!. Thank you." He then sat down as food appeared on every table.

Turning to an older student next to him Harry asked a question.

"Is the Headmaster barmy?"

The older boy let out a small snort and answered" If you ask anyone from the other houses they will say he is a genius. If you ask anyone in Slytherin they will tell you he went off his rocker years ago." And with that the boy turned back to eating.

Hearing his stomach rumble Harry began to pick food from the mounds in front of him, and piled it on his plate. Blaise Zabini then addressed him from across the table.

"Hello, I am Blaise Zabini." The boy said, " I have to admit I am surprised that you, a Potter, are in Slytherin."

"Why would you be surprised I was in Slytherin?" Harry asked interestedly.

"Well, your parents were both Gryffindors and as far as I know no Potter has ever been in Slytherin."

"How do you know that about my family?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I am from a family of Purebloods so I learned all about the different families and their history before we come to Hogwarts."

"Oh." Was all Harry said. After that the rest of the feast passed in relative silence between the two boys. After everyone was done eating Dumbledore stood again.

"Ahem—just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you." Harry tuned out most of what he said but the last part caught his interest.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor-corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." Some people laughed at this while most remained silent. Harry couldn't believe them, who laughed at a death threat?

"And now before we go to bed let us sing the school song." What ensued could only be described as a train wreck. Everyone had a different tone and speed. Yet Dumbledore seemed to think it was great. Harry decided then and there that the man was barmy.

"Now prefects please escort the first years to the dormitories." Harry noticed the boy he had talked to earlier stand up and yell for first years to follow him. As the boy led them through what seemed like a maze , Harry got the distinct impression that they were going lower and lower. Finally the boy stopped in front of a stone wall.

"This is the entrance to our common room and dormitories." He explained, "You will need to remember the password to get in, it is Basilisk." When he said this, the bricks on the wall started to open and revealed a small passage leading into a lit room. Once they entered Harry couldn't help but marvel at the room. There was a fireplace that was furnished with snake carvings on either side. Couches and chairs made of silk were spread throughout the room. The carpet was green with silver trimming. And on each side of the room there was a staircase.

"Boys dormitories are to the right, and girls are to the left. Each dormitory holds two people. If you need help finding your classes tomorrow feel free to ask myself or another prefect. That is all good night." And with that he strode up the right stair case. The first year boys and girls wished each other good night and went up. It turned out that Harry would be sharing a dormitory with Blaise. Deciding to for go Occlumency training for the night the last thought Harry had before he fell asleep was, _I'm home_.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Ok, so I had this started, and I figured I would post it up while I work on the summary. This should answer some of the questions you had, and the rest will be answered in the summary.

Chapter 3: Reactions

Located in one of the tallest towers at Hogwarts was the Headmaster's office, and currently Headmaster Dumbledore sat behind his elegant wooden desk with a slight frown on his face.

"How could this have happened?" he wondered aloud. "A Potter in Slytherin…poor Lily and James must be rolling in their graves. Well hopefully he will turn out to be just another student and he won't cause too many problems for me." The Phoenix perched atop its pedestal gave a low saddening noise. Dumbledore turned his attention to it.

"I know Fawkes I should not neglect to watch over him, after all it is well known his parents supported the light, and being in Slytherin will most likely be tough. But I have other more important matters to attend to at the moment. Like the Longbottom boy for example, I need to find a way to test him, without actually having him know I am testing him. I wonder if…" He trailed off. After a few moments of silent contemplation his face broke into a slight smile. "Yes that will do. Well I will most likely have a busy day tomorrow with the first classes of the year beginning so I am off to bed Fawkes." And with that he walked to a door in the back corner of the room and closed it silently behind him. All the while missing the sad look that his Phoenix was giving him.

Somewhere in the Dungeons

Professor Severus Snape was standing in his office silently debating with himself.

"I don't understand how this could have happened!" He practically spit out. " A Potter in Slytherin? Unheard of. " He was trying to make a decision on how to treat the son of the man who had tormented him for so long. "The boy is a Slytherin so therefore I should favor him, but on the other hand he is a Potter. " Realizing his debate was getting nowhere and starting to feel a head ache coming on Snape made a decision. " If the boy slacks off at all I will treat him like a Potter, but if he is a hard working, and capable student then I will treat him just as if he is another Slytherin." With that decided he got ready for bed, after all he was going to have a long day of teaching those dunderhead first years the next morning.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom

Quirrell let out a gasp of pain as he fell to the floor. His body was shaking and felt extremely hot.

"You have done well my servant." Praised the voice of the Dark Lord.

"Thank you, master. You are too kind to offer me praise." Quirrell stated breathlessly.

Ignoring the comment, the Dark Lord continued on. "Yes the Potter boy is falling right into place. As a Slytherin the other houses will hate him. The muggles at the orphanage already hate him, and we are offering him a life line. He will find dependence on us, and slowly we can help him fall to the dark. To learn to use his anger and seek revenge against those that have hurt him. The only problem we might have will be if Dumbledore find outs, but he is so obsessed with his precious Boy-Who-Lived that I doubt he will notice the pain of one lowly Slytherin. "

"Yes it is a perfect plan master." Quirrell praised in hopes of avoiding more pain. It seemed his prayers were answered when the voice stopped and he felt himself regain control of his body. Tired mentally and physically he prepared himself for bed.

A/N: Ok so since chapter 3 was so short I am going to combine chapter 3 and 4.

Chapter 4: First Day Allies, Enemies, and Classes.

The next morning seemed to come all too quickly in Harry's opinion. And it didn't help that apparently since there was no natural light in the room, the ceiling lamps were enchanted to send out a flash of bright light every morning. When Harry had woken up enough he had asked Blaise why the lamps did that. To that he had smirked and answered.

"Because we are Slytherins Harry, and Slytherins are never late. We must keep up appearances." Keeping that in mind Harry got ready, and then went to the common room to wait for Blaise before heading to breakfast. It was in the common room that Harry had his second encounter with the blond haired boy, Draco Malfoy.

"Good morning Potter." Draco offered formally.

"Good morning Malfoy" Harry responded.

"I can't believe you are in Slytherin house." The blond stated.

"Oh, and why can't you believe it? I am here aren't I?" Harry shot back at him.

"Well it is well known that your parents supported the light in the last war. And so I just assumed you would be like them."

"Well Malfoy, it's kind of hard to be like people you never knew." Harry stated. It got quiet after that, but luckily Blaise chose that moment to come down and tell Harry they should head to breakfast. Once in the hallway Blaise asked Harry what he was talking about with Malfoy.

"Oh he was just saying how he couldn't believe I would be in Slytherin because my parents supported the light side." Harry told him.

"I am not saying you do or do not belong in this house Harry, but that's probably going to be how a lot of people feel about you."

The rest of their journey was spent in relative silence. And Harry was trying to memorize paintings and hallways so he could find his way back later. Harry was really hoping to avoid any trouble on his first day, but it seemed like luck was not on his side. Neville Longbottom was entering the Hall at the same time he and Blaise were. And right behind Longbottom was his faithful red headed follower.

"Hey Potter! What's it like in the snake house? Probably just to your liking, all slimy and filled with rats!" Yelled out the boy-who-lived. Harry went to walk around him, but he found the boy to be blocking his way. "Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you Potter. I am the boy-who-lived."

Harry turned to tell Longbottom off, but Professor Snape chose that minute to step in. "Mr. Longbottom, just because Mr. Potter is not pulled in by your enormously large ego does not give you the right to harass him. I would take points from Gryffindor, but there are none there yet. So a detention will have to do. Tonight at 5:30. Don't be late Mr. Longbottom. " Harry and Blaise took Longbottom's momentary lapse of concentration to get to their table. Once there they both let out a few snickers.

"Did you see the oaf's face? Oh it was priceless." Blaise commented. Harry couldn't help but agree. The two began to pull food onto their plate and eat. About half way through breakfast Professor Snape came around with time tables.

"These are your schedules. Make sure you are on time for all classes. I don't want to see Slytherin losing points on the first day because you were late. Understand?" Both boys nodded. "Good." And with that he continued on down the table handing out schedules. After finishing their breakfast the two looked at their schedules to see what the first class was. And upon seeing it Harry let out a groan.

"Great, just great, Transfiguration with the Gryffindors. That means I have to see the bloody boy-with-the-over-sized-ego. " After a few more moments of cursing who ever made the schedules Harry turned to Blaise to ask if he knew the way to the classroom. Blaise informed him that he did. So together the two left the hall and headed up the stairs to their first class.

They two boys arrived early to the classroom, and decided they would take seats towards the back of the class in hopes that they wouldn't be noticed too much. The two passed the minutes by just talking back and forth. Harry gave Blaise a brief version of how his life at the orphanage was. And in return Blaise told Harry a little about his life with his parent's. Harry found it interesting to learn that Blaise actually had a private tutor for the year before he came to Hogwarts. He explained that it was just to explain theory, and cover some basic spells that would be taught. No practical experience. Harry was debating whether or not to mention to Blaise about his practicing at the orphanage, but decided against it since he wasn't sure if he could get in trouble for it. It wasn't that he though Blaise would tell a teacher, but he just wasn't comfortable sharing information like that with someone he met only a day ago. By this time the rest of the class had started to file in. And on top of the desk in the front of the room sat a cat.

Harry then noticed that it was two minutes after the class was scheduled to start, and wondered why the Professor wasn't there. He was abruptly pulled from his thoughts when none other then Longbottom and Weasley came crashing through the door. Looking around Weasley seemed relieved and then turned to Neville.

"See I told you we wouldn't get in trouble for being late, the Professor isn't even here yet." He proclaimed quite loudly.

Imagine his shock when the cat jumped off the desk and transformed right into Professor McGonnagal right in front of him.

"Mr. Longbottom , Mr. Weasley. Why are you late to my class?" She demanded.

"We're sorry Professor we got lost." Ron said.

"Might I suggest a map then? Now take your seats so I may begin." Not willing to argue with the imposing looking witch they took their seats. After the teacher took roll she began her lesson. The first thing they would be doing was learning to change a match into a needle. Harry couldn't see how this was useful, but paid attention anyway. After the lecture the professor gave each person a match and told them to begin practicing.

Harry looked over the instructions in the book one more time just to make sure he had everything right before turning back to his match. He then picked up his wand, and began to practice. After about 4 or so failed attempts at it Harry got a slight change. The wood took on a silvery shade. On his next attempt he managed to turn it into a full needle. Professor McGonnagal was making her way through the Gryffindors and attempting to help them, so Harry turned to Blaise to see how he was doing. And much to Harry's surprise Blaise hadn't managed to change anything. Taking notice of his friend looking at him with a bit of shock, Blaise turned to Harry.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh. Sorry I was just surprised you hadn't managed to change anything yet I guess. I mean you had the tutor to explain theory to you, and I guess I just figured you would be able to do it faster than most people. " Harry told him. It was then that Blaise noticed the needle sitting on Harry's desk.

"Woah, how did you do that?" Blaise asked. But he said it a little too loud and McGonnagal came over to see what was happening. When she saw the needle sitting on Harry's desk she looked a little shocked. Probably wasn't expecting a person who had never known magic existed for most of his life to be the first to accomplish the task.

"Very well done Mr. Potter. Take 5 points for Gryffin….I mean Slytherin." She caught herself. And it seemed that most of the class had gone back to work, and didn't notice it. Once again she resumed walking around the classroom helping those who needed it.

The whole time Harry had just sat there. He was pleased with receiving the praise, for he got very little of it at the orphanage. And then and there he decided that if doing things first, and right earned him praise he would make sure to do whatever it took to be the best. With that decided he turned to see if Blaise wanted some help. And that was how he spent the rest of the class, helping Blaise to change his match. And by the time class was over, only Harry, Granger, Blaise, and Malfoy had managed to complete the task. Because they had managed to get the spell right, the four were excluded from the assignment the rest of the class had to do, an essay on the theory behind transfiguring a match into a needle.

As Harry and Blaise were leaving they heard Longbottom grumbling to Weasley about how the Slytherins must have cheated. They chose to ignore him and just keep walking. There was no need for another confrontation already. It was time for lunch so the two began walking back towards the Great Hall. They chattered idly about what they thought the Defense Against the Dark Arts class would be like until they reached the Hall. Lunch was relatively boring. The two passed it by chatting about meaningless things, and what they wanted to learn this year. About 10 minutes before it was over, Harry and Blaise got up to leave.

When they reached the Defense classroom they were early, and the doors were still locked. The pair had been waiting outside for about 3 minutes before Professor Quirrell showed up. He took notice of the pair and greeted tem.

"G-G-Good after n-n-noon, students. I see you are e-e-early for-or class. Please go in and find a seat. I have a few things to set up before the lesson." Harry and Blaise both complied and followed their teacher into the room. Like in Transfiguration they chose seats at the back of the room. Having nothing better to do, Harry let his eyes wonder around the room. The room itself was much larger than the transfiguration room. The walls had a few paintings on them, but other than that were basically bare. And there were 3 rows of desks, all exactly the same. With 2 walkways dividing them into sections. Harry then focused on Professor Quirrell. The man was wearing the same turban he had been on that day he came to the orphanage, but instead of the muggle clothes he had been wearing the man was now dressed in a long tan wizard robe. He also noticed that the professor was looking older and more worn down. Not thinking to much on it Harry put it off as the light and maybe some stress over his new job. By this time students had begun to enter, so Harry took out his parchment and quill and got set up to begin.

Once everyone was in their seats Professor Quirrell began telling them what they would be learning. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to understand him through his stutter. Even though he didn't show it, Harry was now overjoyed he had agreed to take the extra lessons, that way he could make sure he learned the material without having to decipher the instructions through Quirrell's stutter. Harry then began to daydream about what he would be learning, and that's how he spent most of the rest of class. When there was only like 5 minutes left in class, Quirrell came by his desk, and he began to speak. "Mr. P-P-Potter si-since you se-seem to think d-d-daydreaming is okay, you can m-make up for your lo-lost class time in de-de-detention tonight." That snapped Harry out of his dreaming pretty quick. Silently he cursed himself for not paying attention. It was only the first day and already he had a detention. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Blaise smirking at him, and knew he would be hearing about this for a while. The class ended, and the two gathered their stuff and left.

Once they were in the hallway Blaise began to laugh at him. This proved to only irritate Harry more, and Harry then proceeded to glare at Blaise. This had the effect of sending him into another round of laughter.

"Shut up Blaise."

"Oh, come on Harry. Its pretty funny when you think about it. I mean getting detention on the first day. " Blaise had finally managed to control himself enough to speak.

" I don't want to hear it." Harry told him. Blaise said no more about it, but he didn't stop smirking the entire walk to the dungeons. When they got into the common room, Draco was waiting to greet them. Inwardly Harry groaned.

" So Potter, how was defense today? Oh wait, I forgot you weren't paying attention." So much for that Slytherin wit thought Harry.

" Even though I wasn't paying attention I could probably tell you how it went Malfoy, that bookworm Granger probably had her hand up the entire class, Longbottom sat there preening himself, Weasley and the rest of the Gryffindorks sat their with a stupid expression on their face, most likely muttering about slimy Slytherins." Harry told him in a bored tone. Malfoy seemed to be at a loss of words, probably due to the fact that what Harry described was exactly what happened. Taking advantage of his shocked silence Blaise pushed his way past and Harry followed him up the staircase to their room. Once they were in the room the boys realized they had nothing to do.

"Want to play some wizard chess Harry?" Blaise asked. Harry declined the offer telling Blaise he didn't much care for chess. Blaise took it in stride, and told Harry he was going to try and find someone to play then. With that said he left the room, and Harry was alone. With nothing else to do until dinner, Harry pulled out the book he had received on Occlumency. It had been a while since he had practiced, and he wanted to refresh his knowledge before he practiced. It took him about ten minutes to skim, and then he set to work. Even though he hadn't practiced in a while Harry was still able to bring the black sky up relatively quick to cover his thoughts. He practiced just calling up the thin shield faster and faster for the next half hour or so. He practiced so much that he didn't realize he had exhausted himself. Deciding to call it quits for now, he packed his book back into the trunk, and laid down to get a little rest before his detention.

_Harry was sitting against one of the smoother rock walls of the tiny cliff side cave he had discovered. So lost in his own thoughts was he, that the intruder in his hiding place went unnoticed until it was too late. Before Harry knew what was happening pain erupted in the right side of his face. The thin-wire framed glasses he wore were knocked off his face, and he fell over. Another blow came, and this time it was a sharp kick to his stomach. And another, and another. Blow after blow reigned down on him. He could feel his face swelling, and couldn't open his right eye. But with his left he managed to catch a glimpse of his assailant. Messy brown hair a slightly pointed face, and a large hulking frame. He knew who it was. Steve. He just couldn't leave him alone. And suddenly Harry was angry. Very angry. He just wanted to be left to his own. He didn't want any trouble, but no. He wanted to make Steve stop, he wanted him to feel pain to. He wanted to hear him scream. And then it happened, a warmth spread through Harry, and his body felt like it was on fire. But he could hear Steve screaming. He chanced a glance, and saw the boy on the ground convulsing back and forth. As the warmth in him grew, the bruises and swelling seemed to fade away. It only lasted a few seconds, and then it all stopped, and the cave lay quiet again. Harry's vision began to cloud and darken, but before he gave in he let out a weak series of laughs, he had made Steve pay. And then everything went black. In the distant he could hear someone calling his name "Harry" "Harry, come on Harry wake up"_

Harry slowly opened his eyes and was met instantly with the sight of Blaise's face.

"Come on Harry, you need to get up and go. Otherwise you're going to be late for your detention." Blaise told him.

Not wanting to be late for his detention, and risk earning another, Harry got out of bed and made his way out of the common room and into the hallway. As he walked to the Defense room he pondered on his dream. Was that really what had happened that day? He couldn't remember much, but it seemed logical that it all happened that way. Lost in his thoughts he barely registered when he was in front of the classroom door. Half-heartedly he knocked, and waited for an answer before entering.  
"Come in" came the unmistakable voice of Professor Quirrell. As Harry entered he noticed the differences right away. All of the desks were pushed to the sides and the middle of the class was now wide open.

"Ahh, welcome Harry." Quirrell greeted him.

"Professor, why is everything pushed to the side? And I would like to apologize for not paying attention today, it was just so hard to understand you when you were stuttering." Harry hoped he didn't offend his new mentor.

"Do not worry Harry, I knew you weren't paying attention the entire time, it just gave me an excuse to have our first meeting today. " Understanding shone in Harry's eyes. He wasn't in trouble, Professor Quirrell had used the detention as a way to hide the extra lessons. Harry watched as Quirrell pulled a wand out of his robe sleeve and began to cast spells at the walls, but something else caught his attention more.

"Professor, how come you don't say anything when you cast a spell, and what spells were you casting?" Harry asked with genuine curiosity.

"You're very observant Harry. The answer to the first question is simple, I simply don't say anything because it is not necessary once you learn to silently spellcast. It is a very useful technique to hide what spell you are sending at an opponent. Those spells I cast were just some minor privacy wards, so that we would not be disturbed. Now if you have no more questions I will began by telling you what you will be learning, and then I would like to test your Occlumency shields." Receiving a nod from Harry he continued. " Very well, as you may remember from our first meeting I told you I would teach you to duel. That is still true, but I will also be teaching you how to fight. In dueling there are set rules you must follow, but in a fight anything can go and you need to be able to think on your feet. So I will be showing you how you can use some of the common spells you are taught to your advantage in a fight, as well as some advanced spells. It is also important to remember you are still growing magically so you must be careful not to over due it and wear yourself out, as this will only make you magically weaker. Are you taking all of this in?"

"Yes, I think so. Basically you are going to teach me how to fight using the spells that the other Professors show us. Is that why this has to be secret? Because they wouldn't approve of their lessons being used to teach violence?" Harry asked.

Quirrell very nearly applauded the young Slytherin on his quick pick up. "Yes that is exactly why. Where as I am not so against using violence to get my way, the others here, except maybe Professor Snape, are strongly against it. Enough discussion for now. I assume you have been practicing your Occlumency." receiving an affirmative nod in return he continued, " Good I am going to use Legilemency on you to try and break through your barriers." Quirell made eye contact with Harry and all of the sudden there was a great pressure on the inside of Harry's skull. He called up the best defense he could and managed to shroud a few of the memories, but it only lasted a few seconds before it broke through and everything came rushing up. Memories of the orphanage, beatings, meeting Quirrell, the day in Diagon, the train ride, the sorting, everything. Then it was gone.

"That was a good first attempt, while you did not block me, you managed to call up your barriers under the pressure, I used a more brutal version than what Dumbledore would. He would only lightly scan your surface thoughts, so as long as you keep your barriers in place they will pass for now."

Harry was on his knees panting, he had not expected such a forceful attack. He barely registered the words Quirrell said, but he got the basic message. He was tired from the attack, and it must have showed because Quirrell spoke again.

"Go back to your dormitory, you're tired and it makes no sense to continue if you can't even focus long enough. I will let you know when the next lesson will be." With that dismissal Quirrell walked towards a door off to the side and closed it.

It was a very worn out Harry that had finally managed to pull himself into bed down in the Slytherin dormitories. He had felt even more exhausted walking down the stairs to get there, and was afraid he would pass out in the hallway. But he did not want to be found out in the corridors on the 1st official day of school so he trudged on. Despite the lack of action and accomplishment he had that night, Harry still felt good about his lessons and couldn't wait to learn more. Thoughts of power and revenge littered his dreams that night as he slept.


	4. Chapter 4

Ok so I'm going to skip around a bit here because it's a summary of first year.

The next few weeks flew by in a hurry for students. The first years were for the most part fully integrated into the workings of Hogwarts now, and all the returning students were back into their normal routines. Harry was for one of the first times in his life genuinely happy. He was doing wonderful in all his classes. Even Professor Snape, who at first appeared to hate him, had praised Harry on his careful and precise potions work. But it wasn't that he was doing well that really made him happy. No. He had always been a bright child. It was that for the first time in his life, he had someone he could call a friend. Blaise and he had begun to move past their initial secretiveness and were more open with each other. Granted there were no family screts shared between the two, but they now readily shared things they heard about other people or themselves. Yes, life for Harry Potter had finally started to look up. About the only complaint he had was that Professor Quirrell had not contacted him for another meeting. He knew that it was probably hard to meet secretly as it seemed everything done in the castle was monitored, but deep down Harry feared Quirrell may have forgotten.

A few days before halloween Harry's fears were alleviated. As he took his normal seat in the Great Hall for breakfast something strange happened. An owl flew down to him and had something attached to it. "Who could this be from?" Harry mused to himself. He never received mail because, well, he didn't have anyone to write to. He reached out to untie the parcel from around the owl's leg only to receive a sharp peck in the back of the hand. "Ow, darn bird, whatcha do that for?!" It was then he noticed that the barn owl was eyeing the food on his plate. Harry grabbed a small slice of bacon and held it out for the owl. The bird greedily ate the offered food, gave a nod of appreciation, and then lifted its leg out to be relieved of its duty. Still wary of the bird, Harry quickly untied the package and pulled it over. The bird flew away as Harry unrolled his package to reveal a newspaper. Not really caring about what was happening, he was about to put the paper to the side when two things caught his attention. The first being the small caption on the side which read **"Gringotts Break-In Still a Mystery"**. "Who in their right mind broke into Gringotts? That place is like a tiny fortress!" Harry thought to himself. The second thing that caught his attention was something even stranger. Normally the paper would be all black and white text, but in the top right hand corner, there was a green inked sentence. "Harry, come to the Defense classroom tonight at around 5:30 for a lesson. If anyone asks tell them you have a detention." Just as soon as he finished reading the sentence it vanished from sight. Leaving just an ordinary paper. He concealed it well, but it couldn't be helped that some of the happiness he felt leaked out. Harry began to daydream about what he would be learning. They had startd to learn some basic spells like the levitation charm,but classes were still very boring for Harry. And he couldn't wait to see what Quirrell would be teaching him. He didn't get very far in his thoughts because he felt a thump next to him and then thump on the side of his head. Turning to see what disturbed him, he was met with the face of Blaise.

"Ay, what'd ya hit me for?" Harry questioned him.

"You didn't wait for me before you came down here, you git." Blaise told him.

"Well, if you didn't take so long to get ready it wouldn't have happened. I mean really, you take almost as long as Malfoy does!" Harry shot back in defense.

"Sorry, some of us care what we look like!" Blaise said while eyeing Harry's hair, which looked like it had never been combed.

"Whatever, just shut up and eat your food. You'll need your energy since we have transifguration and charms with the Gryffindors today."

Blaise's response to that was a low moan and to pile more food onto his already overflowing plate.

* * *

Harry was sitting on his bed, waiting for his lesson, and was reflecting on how much had changed. He looked around at the finely decorated room he was in and felt the softness f the mattress, and almost couldn't believe that a few months ago he was sitting in a room not even half the size of this one, and feeling like that would be how the rest of his life would go. Now though, he had magic, he had power. He could do whatever he wanted. That thought brought a grin to his face. No more being pushed around. Ever. There was still almost an hour before he had to start heading to the Defense classroom so Harry laid back and allowed his mind to be covered with the dark void that was his Occlumency shield. He had started making more and more progress, he could now hold the shield up for any given amount of time. That was not his greatest advancement though. As he was reading through the book, he came across a section on setting illusions of sorts. The illusion came in the form of useless memories that everyone would know. Such as what you ate for breakfast , or what class you had that day. Now instead of just a blank abyss there were small shining dots that looked like stars. Ever yone of those dots was an unimportant memory. In order to get to the deeper memories you would have to fight your way through the wall of stars. This still would prove to be an easy illusion for a Legilems to dispel, but it gave Harry a sense of accmplishment to know he was advancing. Next came the hardest and longest part of Occlumency, it could take up to a year to finish depending on the person's will power and how many memories they had to hide. The process involved categrizing the deeper memories. But in order to do this Harry would have to witness them all over again. It wasn't an experience he was looking forward to doing, but if it would keep him protected he would do it.

* * *

"E-e-enter" came the voice of Professor Quirrell. Harry pushed open the door and walked in. The classroom was set up exactly the same as last time with all the desks and chairs pushed to the side, and Quirrell standing in the middle of the room.

"Evening Professor" Harry greeted the man.

"Good evening Harry. No time for chatter, we must get right to work. Tell me how far have you come with Occlumency?" Harry not wanting to anger his mentor quickly gave an explanantion of is advancement.

"Very well done. You have a long way to go still but you're advancing quite fast. Now, I know it has been some time since we met, and I'm sure you are anxious to begin. Before I teach you application of spells, its important you know some basic duelling spells. Normally you wouldn't learn these until 3rd or 4th year, but I feel you can handle it. The spells are Expelliarmus and Stupefy. The disarming and stunning spells. We'll start with the disarming spell as it is easier and requires less energy. Watch me first and then repeat. " Harry observed as Quirrell conjured a dummy and then flicked his wand while saying expelliarmus. A golden colored light flecked with red spots shot from the end of Quirrell's wand and hit the dummy, knocking it backwards.

"Now it is your turn. Step up here, and remember intent is key to powerful spells. You have to want what you are doing."

Harry walked up to where Quirrell had been standing and faced the dummy. He was nervous and didn't want to let his mentor down. Reaizing he might be taking to long he flicked his wand and said "expelliarmus!", but all that happened was gold sparks sizzled from his wand.

"Concentrate Harry." Was all that Quirrell said.

Trying again Harry was met with more success in the form of a gold light shooting out and hitting the dummy, but it didn't move. Over and over he tried for what seemed like hours, but the most Harry could get the dummy to do was rock back and forth. Finally Quirrell spoke up.

"Are you trying to waste my time? TRY AGAIN!" He roared.

Harry felt terrible, this man had given up his time and put himself at risk of losing his job, and he was letting him down. He settled his thoughts using Occlumency and focused on his target. Intent. He had to want to disarm it. He envisioned it as holding the paddle she would beat him with. Not again, he thought. I'm better than her, I'm stronger now. "expelliarmus!" A gold light flew from Hary's wand into the dummy knocking it back about 4 feet.

"Well done. Tell me, what did you do differently on that attempt than all the others."

"I pretended it was . She was going to beat me. But I didn't want that to happen. I wanted to disarm her." Harry said

"See now Harry? Its all about intent. You need to want it to get the best results. We still have some time, so if you aren't too exhausted we will continue onto the stunning spell. "

"I'm fine Professr, we can keep going." A curt nod met his response. Professor Quirrell then summoned a desk over to him. He conured a spider and then pointed his wand at it.

"We will start small and work our way up since the stunner is different in that it takes more energy to stun a human than this spider for example. Once again watch me and repeat." The lesson continued much the same the first had, but Harry seemed to catch on faster this time, and by the time Quirrell said to stp he could stun a small dog.

"Not bad for your first time Harry. Not bad at all. I suspect this left you quite drained right?" Upon receiving a nod of confirmation Quirrell continued. "That is because your core is still developing and you don't have as much magical endurance, but don't worry over the Holiday break we will work on that. Now take this note saying that you were in detention incase you get stopped, and head back to your dormitory."

* * *

Halloween was pretty normal. The weasley twins upped their pranking more, but other than that there had been nothing out of the ordinary. Longbottom and Weasley had been complete asses and made Granger cry, not that Harry really cared. Other than that though, the day went about as normal. Until the Halloween feast. When none other than Professor Quirrell comes running into the Great Hall, screaming about a troll in the dungeons, and then faints on spot. Well, that was all tht was needed to create a full scale panic. The houses erupted in screams, but it was abruptly ended when two loud cracks were heard from Dumbledore's wand. He ordered all the prefects to take their houses bac to the dormitories. Not feeling like fighting through a throng of Hufflepuffs and Gryfinndors the Slytherins and Ravenclaws waited for them to leave before moving. As Harry and Blaise walked behind the rest of their class they noticed they weren't heading to the dormitories. They weren't the only ones apparently because up ahead they heard "Oy, Flint. This isn't the way to the dormitories, where are you leading us?"

"Well let's see. Since the troll is in the dungeons and our dormitories are in the dungeons, I figured we should probably go somewhere else." That shut up whoever had questioned him. They eventually wound up in the Library, which is where they stayed until Professor Snape came and found them. Harry noticed something about Snape though. He was limping, and he pointed it out to Blaise. Blaise looked and then turned a confused face to Harry. Shrugging in response they let it go, figuring it wasn't their business.

* * *

"Ugh, this is just what we needed. Something else for Longbottom to brag about." Blaise complained the next moring at breakfast.

"It seems like everyone forgot the reason Granger was even in danger in the first place." Harry added. Being the Gryffinor he is Longbottom and Weasley had rushed off to save Granger from the troll last night. And now it appeared as if the three were inseperable. Harry noticed Dumbles was practically glowing. _This is probably what he wanted_, Harry thought. To have what was already being called _The Golden Trio_ as a shining example of what all students should be like. He let out a snort at the thought of Slytherins acting like Gryffindors. Blaise asked him what was so funny, and Harry told him about what he was thinking. Blaise got a laugh out of it to, but he didn't think Dumbledore had planned it. Although he admitted it was suspicious that a troll got into a supposedly well fortified castle. Harry hadn't even thought about that aspect. That's one of the things he appreciated about Blaise. He noticed the obvious things that Harry sometimes overlooked. Anymore discussion on the topic was abruptly stopped when someone sat down next to Harry. It was a first year by the name of Daphne Greengrass. Where Harry and Blaise were known as the loners of Slytherin, Daphne was the Ice Queen. She had an almond shaped face, with gray eyes and long black hair. She was a pureblood and had been raised with strict manners and ways she was supposed to act. Even though she was only 11, Harry had to admit she was quite pretty.

"Good morning Potter, Zabini." She greeted them.

"Morning." They both replied. An awkward silence came after that, so Harry decided to break it.

"What brings you over here Greengrass? Usually you keep to yourself." Harry stated the obvious.

"I need to talk to you, Potter. " Daphne cut to the point.

"Well, I'm right here. What did you want to talk about?" Harry was genuienly curious.

Daphne looked uneasily at Blaise and Harry got the point. He stood up and told Blaise he would be right back. Daphne followed him out.

Once out of earshot of the Great Hall Daphne spoke up. "Thank you. You see, I need your help, but because I'm a pureblood it would be embarassaing to admit weakness in front of another pureblood."

Harry nodded, showing he understood. "So what do you need my help with?" He questioned genuienly curious.

"You're goot at Transfiguration. I'm struggling and if I do poorly in anything my parents will punish me. I was wondering if you could help me in class. It wouldn't be anything major, just watch what I do and help correct the mistakes I make." Daphne said this all in a rush, and he almost missed part of it.

Thinking it over he decided to do it. Normally he would have said no, because he wasn't gaining anything. But when he thought about it, he would be gaining a friend? Or maybe acquainttance in Daphne. He liked Blaise well enough, but the two thought a lot alike. It would be good to get a different opinion on things. "All right, I'll do it." He told her. Daphne gave a tiny little smile and said thank you. They then walked back to the Great Hall together. Harry sat down with Blaise again, and to his surprise Daphne sat down next to him instead of going back to her regular seat. Blaise gave him a "what the hell?" look, but Harry just shurgged. The three ate breakfast while chatting about little insequential things and then headed to class.

"So what did Greengrass want to talk to you about?" Blaise asked Harry once they were in there dorm.

"Oh, it was nothing. She just had a question about class is all." Harry lied. But Blaise caught him

"Then why couldn't she ask it in front of me?"

"Well, I don't know. She just wanted to do it in private?" Harry hoped his friend woud just let it go.

"Fine, don't tell me. " Blaise whined and then left the room. Harry didn't bother to stop him. He knew Blaise would get over it and then come back and try again to find out what they talked about. Sure enough about ten minutes later Blaise came back in, with an evil grin on his face.

"She's your girlfriend isn't she?" He accused.

This was not what Harry had been expecting. And he colored a little at the thought. Which was probably one of the worst things he could do at the time, because Blaise took that as a yes.

"Aha ! Why didn't you just tell me?" Blaise sounded hurt at being left out.

"No, Blaise you got it wrong. We aren't dating, she just asked me not to tell anyone what she asked." Harry quickly explained.

"Fine, I guess I can accept that since you're keeping a promise." Blaise still sounded upset, but Harry was thankful he let it go.

* * *

The next few months went by fast for Harry. Despite holding back in his classes to hide his knowledge, he was still among the top in his year. As much as it pained him to admit, the only two who were ahead of him were Granger and Longbottom. It seemed the Beaver and boy wonder weren't so hopeless in magic.

As he promised Harry took to sitting with Daphne in transfiguration. She really wasn't doing too much wrong, and most of the mistakes were simple wand motion mistakes. With him helping her, Daphne's transfiguration marks started to improve. One thing that was upsetting Harry was that Blaise once again thought Harry and Daphne were secretly dating. He started to become distant with Harry because he didn't like that a secret was being kept from him. And by the time the winter break rolled around, Harry and Blaise were barely talking. Harry was staying at the castle, but he wanted to see his two friends off who were both going home for break, which is how he ended up down in the main hall.

"I'll see you when I get back Harry, have a happy Christmas." Daphne told him before she started for the train, leaving Blaise and Harry alone.

"Blaise I don't want you going home angry at me. So I'm going to tell you why I've been sitting with Daphne. But you can never mention it. She asked me to help her improve in transfiguration, but she was embarrassed about showing weakness in front of another pureblood." Blaise seemed to be digesting this before he spoke.

"That makes sense. The Greengrass family is extremely proud and to show weakness in front of another family would bring shame on them. I understand now, and you have my word I won't say anything." With that settled the two shook hands and wished each other a Happy Christmas.

* * *

Harry was kneeling on the cold stone floor of the castle, feeling quite light-headed.

"You over-exerted yourself. That's not good to do at any stage of your life, but when you do it so young you damage your core. Which can make you weaker later on. Don't do it again." Quirrell finished his mini-lecture. As promised earlier Harry was working on magical endurance during the break. He had performed a number of different tasks so far. The most common being to hold a magically cast flame for as long as possible, and to add power to it in intervals. He did this until he became tired. Today was something new though. Harry was told to cast any spells he wanted for as long as possible. It seemed silly, but as he went on Harry could see and feel the decrease in spell strength. This upset him and he tried harder and harder, which is how he wound up where he was now. He had collapsed after casting a particulary strong levitation charm.

"That's enough for today. Go rest and enjoy the rest of your day.

* * *

Harry was bored. Extremely bored. He was the only Slytherin who hadn't gone home for the holidays. Having nothing better to do he decided to roam the halls for a while. After a while he grew bored of the just walking, and made the decision to go to the library and see if he could find something interesting to read. It didn't take long to find a title that sounded promising, So You Want to Be a Shadow? The book contained multiple spells on how to remain silent while moving, how to make yourself blend with an evironment, how to become invisible, etc… most of the spells appeared to be too advanced for him at the moment, but Harry wrote down a few such as the silencing spell, and the disillusionment charm. _"They may prove useful to me."_ _Harry thought to himself_. As he continued to leaf through the book he failed to notice the newest occupant of the library.

"OH GREAT. Potter, just who I wanted to see." Harry meantly snarled at the all too familiar voice.

"Longbottom, what are you doing here? Studying on break? I highly doubt that considering you probably don't study normally."

"Shut up Potter. You know nothing about me!" Neville fired back. Harry's next comment was cut off by the librarian telling them to be quiet or they would be thrown out.

"So then Longbottom why are you here, if not to study." Harry asked again.

"Not that its any of your business, but I'm researching something." Neville seemed to be debating with himself before he continued, "you wouldn't happen to know anything about Nicolas Flamel would you?"

Nicolas Flamel Harry thought. The name sounded familiar, Blaise mentioned him at some point. Harry used his Occlumency to try and recall what he had said. It had been one of the times they were sitting in their dorm. Then it hit him. Nicolas Flamel was the creator of the Sorcerer's stone. But why would Longbottom want to know that.

"Even if I did, why would you want to know? What is so interesting about him?" He questioned.

Again Longbottom looked like he was fighting with himself "We, meaning Hermione, Ron, and I, think that Snape is trying to steal something that is hidden at the school. And whatever it is, its linked to Flamel.

That caught Harry's attention. The Sorcerers' Stone was in Hogwarts? It seemed logical considering how safe the school was said to be, but why bring it to the school and risk unwanted attention. No Longbottom had to be wrong, but Harry decided to ask his mentor about it the next time they met.

"Longbottom, that is possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Professor Snape is a teacher here, which means he is trusted by Dumbledore. Stop making up reasons to get him in trouble simply because you are abysmal in his class." With that said Harry gathered up his books and paper and headed back to his dormitory with a lot on his mind.

* * *

"It is in fact true that the Sorcerer's Stone is at Hogwarts. But rest assured no one is trying to steal it, in fact all of the teachers have contributed to the defense of it. But you must not tell anyone you know of this. That is why the 3rd floor Corridor is off limits, the entrance is located there. " Quirrell finished explaining to his young student. After Harry approached him, he was initially shocked, how had he found out, but when he later discovered that Longbottom was looking into it he became worried. "_Master, what if that fool boy tells Dumbledore of his suspicions? We will be heavily watched then." Quirrell thought to Lord Voldemort. "Do not worry,the boy won't. Think no more of it and get back to training our young follower." _Hoping to avid any repercussions of angering or disobeying the master Quirrell continued on with the lesson. Tonight's involved transfiguring surrounding into objects you could use to fight or protect yourself. Most of the transifgurations would be too complicated for Harry at the moment, but some of the smaller ones were possible for him to accomplish, such as transfiguring some of the surrounding quills into needles, with a varition of the spell he had been taught in class, and then banishing them at your opponent. Another tactic involved a second year spell, _Avus_. It sent a flock of miniature birds out of your wand, while normally completley useless in a fight, they could be used to block incoming spells. These were just a few of the lessons he had been going through. And he had to admit, young Harry was performing above any expectations he had. There was still a long way to go, but by the end of the year, the boy would be capable of taking on most 4th years, and possibly some 5th in a fight. Time was running short, and so Quirrell called an end to the training. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve so there would be no more meetings until after the break was over. It would do no good to wear his pupil too thin.

Christmas came and went for Harry. He had for the first time he could recall, received a Christmas present. Actually he received a few. One from Daphne, Blaise, and one from his mentor. Blaise had gotten him a box of chocolate, and Daphne sent him a book on advanced Transfigurations. Harry had seen some students receiving packages during the year, and ad asked his Head of House about it. At first the man had snarled at him and Harry didn't think he would answer, but then Snape told him about the owl order service. You sent a letter to the store you needed something from and told them what you needed. The store would then consult Gringotts to acquire the money needed and send your items via owl to the school. For Blaise and Daphne he had ordered assorted candies and chocolates. The package from Professor Quirrell surprised him, but upon openng it the surprise was replaced with complete awe. It was a bottle of liquid. There were written instructions on how to use it and what it did. With it applied to his wand he could practice magic unrestricted outsde of school. It had brought a grin to his face when he thought of the things he could do to anyone who annoyed him at the orphanage. They would be his practice dummies.

Break ended and everyone returned to school. Soon classes got back on track and months flew by with nothing eventful. Harry had informed Blaise about Longbottom wondering about Flamel, but because Professor Quirrell had ordered him not to he chose to neglect to mention the stone was in the castle. It was a pretty normal evening for Blaise and Harry, who were sitting in their dormitory playing a game of wizard's chess, when they heard someone sneaking down the hallway outside. Letting his curiousity get the best of him Harry crept as quietly as he could to the door, and inched it open to hopefully get a peak of who was sneaking out. The person was almost out of view, but Harry saw the tell tale bleach blond hair of Malfoy.

"I wonder where he's going." Blaise commented.

"Probably looking to cause trouble. I think I'm going to follow him and see what's up. " Harry informed his roomate.

"Well, you can count me out then. Be careful, if you get caught we'll lose points for Slytherin and that won't go over well with Snape, or the rest of the House." Blaise warned him.

Harry nodded in response to the warning and slippe out of the room. Once in the corridor he applied a silencing spell to his shoes. "_I was right" he thought "those spells are coming in handy." _ He walked quickly to try and catch up with Malfoy. Once he was ut of the common room and in the hallway he looked around and didn't see anyone. Defeated Harry was about go back in when he heard footsteps up the hall to his right. Leading towards the Great Hall and the staircases. After another minute or two of his quick pace he caught up to Malfoy. He was about 50 feet in front of him now. Harry chose to walk more carefully and avoided being out in the open as much as possible, instead choosing to stick to the shadows and inch along the wall. For his part, Malfoy seemed oblivious. He headed up a couple of flights of stairs only to stop in front of the door to Filch's quarters. To Harry's surprise he knocked. Filch came to the door and looked like he was about to yell, but then something Malfoy whispered shut him up, and he smiled a toothless smile. He turned and said something to Malfoy and then quickly hurried up a few more flights of stairs and to one of the towers. Malfoy sat down against the wall and waited. After about 10 minutes Filch came back down the stairs, only he wasn't alone. Granger, Longbottom, and Weasley were with him.

"You lot are in for it now. Out past curfew and meeting with strange people. Right to McGonnagal for you. She'll sort you out. As for you Mr. Malfoy, come with me its only right you get to see some punishement dealt since you are the one who told me about these three." Filch spoke up in his deep rough voice. Harry just stood back and let them pass. No need for him to get caught out after all. Once he was sure they were gone, he headed back to the common room. Once in his dorm he tod Blaise what he saw. They had a good laugh, and specualted over who the Gryffs were meeting with and then called it a night.

* * *

"The forbidden forest, can you believe it?" Blaise spoke up.

"And with that incompetent gamekeeper. What would have happened had they been attacked? Not that I care, but if those Gryffindors had gotten killed the school might have been closed." Daphne pointed out to them. Harry for his part just stayed silent while the other two discussed the punishment. As it turns out the three who had been caught, and Malfoy were all given detention and sent into the Forbidden forest. Apparently the Headmaster was really off his rocker to allow four first year students in the forest at night. Harry spare a glance up to Head table and was met with the stare of his mentor. Upon seeing he had been noticed Quirrell directed his eyes elsewhere. "_Strange," Harry thought "I wonder what that was about."_

"Harry, Harry are you paying attention?" Harry turned to see Blaise talking to him.

"No, I wasn't. What did you want?" Harry told his friend.

"I said we need to go and get to class. Breakfast is almost over. Now come on."

* * *

It was the end of the year and everyone was busy. Final exams were only a few days away, and the library was packed with a ton of last minute cram sessions. Thanks to his Occlumency and extra sessions Harry was well prepared, and as such to this time to wander aimlessly. He was forced to be alone though, because both Blaise and Daphne were studying. As he was wandering he heard voices around the corner ahead. Getting just close enough to make out what was being said Harry heard the voices of the golden trio, and Professor McGonnagal.

"But professor, we need to speak to the Headmaster its urgent!" That was Granger's whiny voice.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, but the Headmaster was called away by a letter from the Ministry, he won't be back until tomorrow. If the matter is truly so urgent you may take it up with me." McGonnagal told her.

"Snape is going to steal the Sorcerer's Stone! And with Dumbledore not here it's the perfect time." Seems like the boy-who-lived couldn't control his mouth anymore.

"That is Professor Snape to you, and what nonsense. Professor Snape is one of the teachers helpig to protect the stone. Do not argue with me, that is my final word. Now, go back to the common room an do something prouctive, like studying for finals." With that eing said McGonnagal walked away leaving the trio behind.

"We can't let Snape get the stone, we're goi ng after him." Longbottom informed the other two.

"But Neville we could be killed, or worse, expelled!" _ "Wow" Harry thought,"Granger really needs to get her priorities straight." _ Harry had heard enough. He didn't care either way what the Gryffindors did. If Tomorrow there were three less at breakfast he would know they tried. Perhaps he should inform Professor Quirrell about this though. "_Yes, Quirrell will want to know."_ With that decided he headed towards the defense classroom.

When he reached the room, the door was slightly ajar. Taking this as a sign to come in, Harry walked into the room. But something was wrong, when he looked around there was nothing. Everything was gone. The room was bare, except for the desks and their chairs. _This can't be right _Harry thought.

"This is wrong. Where is all his stuff, where is he?"

Maybe Quirrell already knew what the three had planned, and had attempted to head them off Harry reasoned with himself. But why did that constitue packing away all the items in the room? Harry had a grim feeling about all of this, but decided to not try and figure it out. Quirrell while a good mentor did some strange things. Like his stuttering around other people. Maybe this was just another one of those. Besides, Harry was sure Professor Quirrell could handle anything that was in his way.

* * *

"Students, students as you all may know by now a tragic event took place a few days ago. Professor Quirrell attempted to steal something hidden within the school. He was fortunately unsuccessful in his attempts, thanks to three brave students. More on that later. What you may not know is that Professor Quirrell did not act alone. He was possessed, by none other than Lord Voldemort. " Gasps came from the majority of the Great Hall at hearing this news. Harry also saw a few smiles from some of the older students in Slytherin. Harry for is part was in a stupor. His mentor, the man who had offered to teach him, and train him was dead. Because of some stupid Gryffindors. How had they bested him? They were mere first years with no extra practice. It really darkened Harry's last days at the school, but not nearly as much as the next announcement.

Dumbledore stood up again. "Now the awarding of the House Cup. This year's winner is once again Slytherin." At this uproarous cheers broke free from serpent's house. "Yes, yes good job Slytherin, but there are some last minute points to be awarded. " The cheers stopped and the hall went silent. Dumbledore then awarded points to each of the three who went after Quirrell. It was convientently just enough to beat Slytherin. This caused loud roars of protest to be heard, but they were just ignored. Harry didn't care though. He was struggling very hard now. The man who was said to be one of the greatest wizards ever, and solely against the dark hd just awarded points for killing a man. And not just any man, but he awarded points for the killing of his mentor. Harry was beyond furious, and it showed.

"Harry, are you alright?" Daphne asked and the concern could clearly be heard in her voice. The house cup couldn't have upet him this much, there must be something else.

"No, I'm not alright. I need to get out of here, now. I'll see you on the train ride home. " And with that said a different Harry Potter got up and left the table, this one now had the seeds of hate in him.


	5. Chapter 5

The Hogwarts express pulled into the platform filled with throngs of parents waiting for their children. Harry looked out at them with anger, and if he was completely honest, jealousy. He didn't particularly care that he didn't have parents but he wished he had somewhere to go other than the orphanage. It had been something he had given little thought to, but now wished he had given more. It would be something he needed to fix once he got back. _Oh damn _Harry thought _ I have no way of getting back to the orphanage._ It hadn't even dawned on him until now he wouldn't be able to get there. So lost in his thoughts he didn't notice his two friends observing him with worry. Blaise and Daphne had hoped that Harry would be feeling better after he had some time to cool down, but it seemed he was even worse now. They wouldn't admit it aloud at school because they were Slytherins, but they cared for each other, and right now their friend was hurting, and they didn't know what to do.

"Umm Harry." Blaise tried to get his friend's attention.

"Hmm, what Blaise?" Harry said more forcefully than he intended but didn't care as he was in no mood for conversation.

"I just wanted to know how you were getting back. Is someone coming to get you? " Blaise asked

"Oh" Harry felt bad now for snapping at his friend,"I don't know honestly. I'll find a way back I guess."

"What? No, I'll just tell my parents you need to use our floo to get back." Blaise told his friend nonchalantly.

"Floo?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, floo travel. You grab a pinch of floo powder, throw it into the fireplace, and then say your destination and step in. Its quite simple." Blaise explained.

"Well, if they won't mind then that would be great. Thanks. " Harry thanked him. And then got up and was about to move to the door, but was stopped by a hand on is wrist.

"Harry, this has gone on long enough. What's wrong?" Daphne had apparently had enough.

"Nothings wrong Daphne, just please let go of me so I can get out of here." Harry was doing his best to stay calm.

Reluctantly Daphne let go of his wrist. "Fine if you don't want to talk then I'm not going to force you." Daphne turned and told Blaise to have a good summer. Then she walked out without saying anything to Harry.

Blaise turned a concerned glance to his friend. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but I know you better fix things with Daphne, otherwise you may lose a friend. Now come on, my parents will be waiting and I need to ask them to let you use the floo." Harry thought about what Blaise said, he knew he was right, but first Harry had to think over everything happening. There was just too much in so little time. He followed his friend as they weaved their way through the crowds of people. They stopped when infront of a younger looking couple. The woman had shoulder length blonde hair and an oval face. She had vibrant blue eyes that appeared to small for her head, and full red lips. She and her husband both had on expensive looking robes, and if Harry wasn't wrong, they were made of silk. The man had brown hair that was cut short. His eyes also seemed quite small, and were a dark shade of brown.

"Mother,Father its good to see you both again. " Blaise said as he exchanged hugs with each.

"Yes we have missed you dear, is this the young you told us so much about?" His mother questioned him while looking at Harry.

"Yes this is Harry, and I was wondering if you would allow him to use our floo since he has no way of getting back to where he lives."

His father spoke up this time, "That would be fine son, but you mean to say your guardian is not coming for you?" He adressed that directly at Harry.

"No sir, I live with muggles, unfortunately, and they aren't the nicest people." Harry explained.

"Ahh, I see." Was all offered to that, but he did share a glance with his wife when Harry said unfortunately. "Well we best be off, dear you grab Blaise and I will apparate ." After saying tis took ahold of Blaise's shoulder and disappeared with a small pop. grabbed Harry's sleeve and soon he had the familiar sensation of being squeezed through a tube. Then it was over and no longer were they in the station, but a grand foyer.

"Welcome Harry, to the House of Zabini. " The place was extremely large, finely decorated and the architecture looked like something straight out of Rome. White marble columns were lined against each wall, an under the staircase as supports. It was then that Harry notice the fireplace, it was surprisingly simple and looked out of place in the room. On top of the mantle sat a small jar of something green. Harry presumed this was the floo powder Blaise had mentioned, and it was confirmed when said as much.

"Have you ever travelled by floo before?" Mr. Zabini asked.

"No sir." Harry answered.

"Its simple really. Just take a pinch of powder and drop it in the flames, say your destination clearly, and then step in. Also do not move while you are traveling, otherwise you will fall when you exit." Harry thought it sounded ludicrous, but did as e was told none the less. Magic always was full of surprises. As he dropped the powder in, the flames turned emerald. He said his destination, and then turned around to say thank you and wish Blaise a happy summer. Once that was finished he stepped into the flames and then eveything began to swirl.

When Harry's world stopped spinning he was standing in front of the rundown fireplace at the orphanage and Mrs. Lanning was hollering at the top of her lungs. _I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR HER ALREADY!_ Harry thought . He pointed his wand at her and fired off a silencing spell. For a few moments she continued yelling until she realized nothing was coming out. Furious she started to march towards Harry. _No, I'm done taking this!_ "Expelliarmus!" The light flew from his wand and blew off her feet.

"Incarcerous." Ropes flew from the tip of his wand and bound the woman's legs and arms. He then removed the silencing spell. Fear shone evident in Mrs. Lanning's eyes. "Now as you can see, I'm not going to put up with you, or anyone else around here. I can do whatever I want now. But don't worry you won't see me for very long. First chance I get I'm leaving here. I'm going to remove the ropes now, if you make one move towards me I swear it will be the last thing you ever do. Understand?" A feeble nod was all he received. "That's not good enough. I want to hear you say it." She remained silent and this did nothing to abate his anger. "Reducto!" A red spell flew from his wand into the wall and blew a hole in it, showering the two with wood pieces. By this time most of the orphanage had come to see what was going on, and they all had similar expressions of fear on their face. This was not the scrawny punk they had picked on not a full year earlier. Finally she found her voice.

"I-i-I understand."

Harry smirked at her "Good. Difindo!Difindo!"Two identical blue spells shot at . The woman closed her eyes not knowing what would happen to her. When nothing seemed to happen she peaked out to see the ropes had been cut and she was free. But it appeared it wasn't over as the boy still had his stick pointed at her. And then he spoke again. "Two things. You will never mention this to anyone, and I want you to go arrange for a cab to pick me up and take me to London. You will also pay the fare." It was impossible for her to argue since she would be attacked again, so she slowly backed up and went to her desk. First she ordered all the children back to their rooms though. They all left, albeit reluctantly.

Once they were all gone turned to Harry. "What are you?" her voice quivered as she said it.

Harry gave her the coldest look she had ever seen."What am I? WHAT AM I?! You should know what I am. I'm a freak. I'm abnormal. And you know what. I'm ok with that because I'm still stronger than you ever will be. Now make the phone call."

"What if I don't want to? What are you going to do, wave that stick and kill me? You'll get caught. The police. . ." Harry cut her off.

"Your useless muggles authorities won't catch me. And no I will not kill you, it would be too merciful of me to let you die painlessly. I want to see the life leave your eyes as you beg for my mercy. I may be leaving now, but I will be back." Something was wrong with this child, that school had changed him and she was frightened. As she made the pone call she could only hope that by the time he came back she would be retired and somewhere far away.

It was about 20 minutes later that a car could be heard pulling up in front of the orphanage. Harry went to the window and noticed that it was in fact the taxi. followed him outside and payed the driver the fare required to get to London. It would be about a 45 minute journey. The trip was pretty silent. In the beginning the driver had tried to make conversation, but Harry really wasn't in a talkative mood, and the driver soon gave up.

Finally the car pulled up to a curb. "We're . . . "but the driver stopped when he realized the boy had already gotten out of the car.

_Now_ Harry thought _All I have to do is find the Leaky Cauldron._ After another 30 minutes of wondering London Streets Harry finally found it. The entrance was squeezed in between two larger shops, and barely noticable unless one was actually looking for it. Walking in it looked almost exactly the same as when he had first come here. He walked up to the counter and waited for the bartender.

"Hello kid, name's Tom what can I do for ya?"

"Well sir, I was wondering if you had a room I could rent for the summer." Harry informed him.

"Yea I got them, but why aren't you staying at home? With your parents."Tom asked him.

"I have no home and my parents are dead. Now I need to go get money from the bank to pay, but I will be back." Harry started to head for the entrance, but Tom stopped him.

"That's not necessarry, I got this contract here you can sign and I'll bring it to Gringotts and they'll automatically take the amount out." Harry agreed as he really wasn't in the mood for dealng with people or goblins anymore today. Once everything ws signed Tom directed him upstairs to his room. It was small only a bedroom and a bathroom, but it would do. Harry took his shrunken trunk out of his pocket and put it in the corner.

Harry let out a sigh. "I need a long shower." 30 minutes later a more relaxed Harry emerged from the bathroom. He laid on his bed and stared at his ceiling for a while. He needed to get back in control. Everything had started to spiral downwards since his mentor had died. Calling up his occlumency shields he began to organize.

"_Students, students as you all may know by now a tragic event took place a few days ago. Professor Quirrell attempted to steal something hidden within the school. He was fortunately unsuccessful in his attempts, thanks to three brave students. More on that later. What you may not know is that Professor Quirrell did not act alone. He was possessed, by none other than Lord Voldemort. " _ _I can't believe the whole year I was learning from Lord Voldemort. He was supposed to be one of the worst Dark Lords ever. But Professor Quirrell was nothing but nice. It doesn't make sense, there has to be something I don't know. Some reason he would choose to help me. And does it matter who he was then? Because of him my parents are dead, but he wasn't directly responsible. And he offered to help me become strong. No, it doesn't matter who or what he was. All I knew him as was my mentor. I will make them pay for killing him. _

Harry pulled himself out of the memory and let it all process. Admittedly he felt a lot better.

He was angry still, but not like what he had been at the orphanage. Now that he was thinking clearer, there were things that needed to be done. First he had to visit the owl emporium. He would need a way to contact his friends this summer, and he wanted to apologize to Daphne. Then he was going to look into finding some study material. Not the standard school stuff, but more advanced. If he didn't get better he was never going to avenge his mentor. That was last on the list. He needed someone's help. He was still young and didn't know where to begin with his training. A new mentor would be essential to gaining revenge. Enough had happened today though. It was time to rest. Tomorrow was guaranteed to be a busy day.

Harry was awoken by the early morning rays of sun shining though his window. He stretched and let out a loud yawn. He got out of bed and the first thing he noticed was that on the samll table in the room sat a tray of food. Suspecting an intruder Harry was wide awake as he reached for his wand. There was no one visible, but it didn't mean they weren't there. A brief investigation of the room showed no one was there. He decided not to take any chances with the food, and would ask Tom about it once he was ready to go. 15 minutes later and he was showered and dressed and heading down the stairs. The bar was surprisingly empty, only a few wizards and witches were there. Harry spotted Tom out of the corner of his eye and made his way over.

"Morning Tom."

"Morning . How'd you like your breakfast?" Tom greeted.

"Actually I was going to ask about that. It had me worried when I saw it. I didn't know someone would be coming in my room in the middle of the night. " Harry raised his eyebrow at Tom when he said this.

"Not to worry Mr. Potter. It was only one of the house elfs that work here. They pop in and drop off the food then leave." Tom explained.

"What is a house elf?" Harry asked the man with genuine curiousity.

"Well you see, they are basically like slaves. They are bound to whoever buys them and they serve their masters. They do whatever you tell them, and some even punish themselves if they think they have upset their master or mistress. The ones here are bound to me and they cook, and deliver the food to the guest rooms."

That sounds like a useful investment. "Tom where could I get one of those house elfs?"

Tom looked a little nervous before answering " You see they aren't sold in Diagon Alley. You'll have to venture into Knockturn to get one, and I do't reccomned going down there by yourself."

"Knockturn? Where is that?" Harry was quickly realising how much he didn't know. He aimed to correct that this year.

"Knockturn Alley. It's a darker area located off of Diagon. A lot of dark wizards and witches shop there as the shops mostly sell ites that are ministry restricted. A lot of dark creatures hang out there as well. Its not a safe place to venture, especially for one as young as yourself. " Tom told him.

"Thank you for your time Tom. Have a nice day." Harry thanked the man before heading towards the entrance to Diagon. He would definitely need to pay a visit to Knockturn, but first he needed money. As Harry stepped through the whole in the brick wall, the first thing he noticed was that the Alley wasn't as crowded as the last time he had been here. It was much easier to get through the thin crowd of people. Almost nothing had changed since last time, all the stores were in the same place, and even some of the displays were the same. One thing that did change was the security at Gringotts. Outside of the gate two goblins in full armor stood holding pikes. They took security very seriously, and after last year's break in they probably have guards everywhere. Harry wasted no time though and walked right up to the first teller that was availabe.

"Hello I need to access my vault." Harry informed the teller.

"Do you have your key?" The goblin asked in a bored tone. Receiving a nod from Harry the teller continued " One moment, someone will take you down. Next!"

Harry went over and waited by the entrance to the lift. It had been only 20 seconds when a goblin came over. It was the same one who had taken him down last time.

"Hello Griphook." Harry greeted his escort.

"Hello . I must admit I'm surprised you recognized me. Most wizards don't even care."

Harry filed that away in his mind for future knowledge. It seemed like wizards and witches treated ost creatures like they were inferior. The ride was just as fast and nauseating. Harry handed over his key when asked and soon he was filling his money bags. He wasn't sure how much he would need so he filled 8 bags. Instead of carrying them like normal he unshrunk his trunk and put them inside. He then reshrunk the trunk and got back on the lift. Two minutes later and Harry was back in the main lobby of the bank. _Ok now I have money. First thing to do is get an owl for communication. _Harry thought. He strode out of the bank and down the Alley. He turned the corner next to the Apothecary and was outside of the Owl Emporium. He pushed the door open and a bell tingling alerted the owner of a customer. Someone else was in the shop as well, and as they were already being helped Harry decided to just browse around for a little bit. He walked down the area containing the owls and started looking for one that would suit him. Ocassionally he would comment on the owls. About halfway through he noticed an owl was staring at him. It was a snowy white owl, not very small, but it wasn't large either. The bird flew down from its perch and landed on his shoulder.

"Well hello there. I suppose you will be my owl then?" The bird just hooted in response to the question. It was almost like it understood. With that taken care of Harry continued to walk to the end of the aisle. As he approached he heard whispers coming from the back corner. As curious as always Harry began to walk towards the noise. But when he got there no one was around. And the whispers were no longer whispers.

"Ssstupid human. Iff he comesss near me I will bite him." It was coming from the tanks around him. Harry got closer to inspect, but was wary because of what he just heard. Inside the tank was a small snake. _That explains the noise. I'm in the snake section. _The closer he got to the tank the more the whispers grew. It became too much and it was starting to give Harry a headache. Even his new bird seemed agitated. He quickly left the area, and his owl seemed grateful for that. "Something to remember. Never get a pet snake. They are way to annoying. " His owl hooted in approval. The other customer had left by now so Harry went right up to the counter to pay.

"Hello, I would like to purchase this owl. " Harry said indicating the bird on his shoulder.

"Interesting choice. That is a very tempremental bird you have there It attacked everyone who tried to get it. But I'm happy to get rid of it. 15 Galleons and its yours. I'll even throw in some owl treats. " The man working the counter told him. Harry agreed to that and pulled his bag of money out of the trunk. He paid the man and soon was on his way again. Once outside the shop he started talking to his new companion.

"I have more to take care of today, you can either stay with me or fly to the Leaky Cauldron. I'm sure you can find my room from there." The bird took off and started in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. Apparently it wasn't one for shopping. Once the bird was gone Harry continued on his way. He made a stop in at the apothecary to replenish his potions supplies. Next stop was the bookstore. He doubted they would have what he was looking for, but figured he would try anyway. He entered and walked towards the counter.

"Maam, I was wondering if you could help me." Harry said as he approached the woman working the counter.

"Sure thing young man, what is it you need?" She was very polite.

"I was wondering if you had books on mind magic. More specifically occlumency and legilemency." Hary received the reaction he was expecting on his request.

"Aren't you a little too young to be worried about something like that? I'm surprised you even know of them." The woman was less polite now.

"You're never too young to study, ma'am. I don't plan on attempting them I just love to learn." Harry of course did plan on practicing, but he wasn't going to tell her.

"Oh I see, you must be a Ravenclaw. Always looking to learn, even when you have off. I myself was a Hufflepuff. How I miss my Hogwarts days. But I don't wish to bore you with my reminiscing. The books you are looking for are found over there." As she said this she motioned to the back left hand corner. "There aren't very many books about them though. " Harry thanked the woman once she was done and was glad he had escaped hearing the tales of her school days. When the woman said there weren't many books she was right. On the shelves there was only about 5 books. And none of them explained how to use the techniques. In fact they only briefly mentioned what they were, and then it went into why the ministry looked down upon them. Harry was disgusted. There was nothing remotely dark about occlumency, and Legilemency was only dark if used to invade someone's inner memories without permission. He wasn't going to waste money on these, but he contiued to browse in hopes of finding something useful. He did come across a copy of So You Want to Be a Shadow?  that he bought. It seemed like everything else he needed he would have to go to Knockturn Alley to find. Unfortunately he didn't know what to look for or where to begin looking. Hopefully something would pop out at him.

It only took about five minutes to locate the entrance to the alley. It appeared to be rundown, and many hags and beggars could be seen. Harry began his journey down the alley and only managed to get ten feet in before some scraggly looking woman grabbed him and demanded to know what he was doing. He shook the woman off and continued on his way. Further in he travelled, keeping an eye out for any store that looked like it would have something he needed. Finally he came across a shop with a dummy in the window. It was animated to lift the hood of the cloak it was wearing. When the hood was up the wearer's face was shrouded in black. Deciding it would be a useful thing to have Harry cautiously entered the store, not quite sure what to expect. He was only mildly surprised when the store looked the same on the inside as it did the outside. Behind the counter a woman sat playing with her hair. When she noticed Harry she immeiately stopped and came over to greet him. _Must not get to many customers _Harry thought wryly.

"Hello, how may I help you today? " The woman hada scratchy voice, probably from lack of use.

"How much is the cloak in the front window? The one that shrouds the wearer's face." Harry asked her, getting right to business.

"10 Galleons and its yours." It seemed fair to Harry. He handed over the money and then grabbed the cloak. He put it on him and left the building. He didn't have to go too much further to find another interesting shop. Borgin N' Burkes the sign read. Through the dusty windows it looked like a store of random items, and Harry could see a collection of books of to one side. He was hoping to find one on legilemency. As he entered he heard voices coming from up front.  
"Borgin I'm telling you this item is highly valuable to our Lord. I wish for you to keep it hidden in your store."

"No, Lucius. If the Aurors were to raid my store and find something belonging to Him I would be finished. You cannot leave it here."

_Lord? The only person I know of that people refer to as Lord is Voldemort. Could it be these men were followers? And what exactly is this item that is so valubale to him. _Harry wanted to see if he could get a closer look, but resisted as he did not want to get caught. Instead he lowered his hood and made some noise as to alert the men he was there. They quickly stopped talking once they realise they weren't alone.

"Who's there!? Show yourself this instant." The man, presumably Borgin, called out. Harry stepped out of the shadows to show himself. Confusion was evident on both men's faces, but Lucius recovered first.

"Harry Potter? Oh my, gotten lost have we? This is no place for children. " Lucius talked down to him and Harry hated it. He didn't even know who this man was.

"No I'm not lost, and how do you know who I am? Who are you?" By now Harry had his hand on his wand.

"No need to resort to violence I assure you I'm not going to harm you. I am Lucius Malfoy. You are in the same year and house as my son, Draco. He tells me you are nothing like what people expected you to be. But as to how I know who you are, its quite simple. You look so much like your father. Now if you'll excuse me." He turned and grabbed something off the counter top and walked toward the exit on the way though he bumped into Harry. Without saying anything the man regained his footing and kept going. Once Lucius was gone Harry turned to face Borgin again.

"I'm looking for a book on legilemency and a place to buy house elves. Can you help me with either of these?" He jumped right to the point.

Borgin for his part had gotten over his initial shock and just took the questions in stride. "I can sell you both for the right price. I got a house elf for 100 galleons, and the book will cost you 20 galleons since its ministry restricted. Also you may want to consider a wrist holster. I got a nice one in stock for only 8 galleons when you flick you wrist you wand will snap into your hand."

"Very good. I'll buy it all, but I wish to test the holster first." It sounded like a good idea, but only if it actually worked. Borgin reached under the counter and pulled one out. Harry put it on and gave it a couple flicks to make sure it worked correctly. Once he was satisfied he handed over the cash for the items and elf.

"Wait here, the book and elf are in the back. " Borgin went into the back of the store. He emerged about 5 minutes later holding a pillow case, book , and an elf following him. "Here they are. To claim the elf just hand him the pillow case. Don't give him clothes or it wil set him free. His name is Twink. Do you need anything else?"

"No that will be all for today. Its been a pleasure doing business with you." Harry took the pillow case and then gave it to Twink.  
"Twink. I want you to return to my room in the Leaky Cauldron. If you can't find the room go downstairs and ask Tom the bartender to escort you there. I will assign you tasks once I get back." The elf did as it was told and disappeared with a crack. Harry packed away his book in his trunk, and left the store.

As he needed nothing else for now Harry started on his way out of the alley. It was about a ten or fifteen minute walk, but he finally emerged back into Diagon Alley. The sun was pretty high now, and it was probably only 2 or 3 in the afternoon. That would leave plenty of time to figure out what his elf could do, and look through his new book. He also needed to set up some kind of schedule for practicing his magic.

Harry entered into the Leaky Cauldron and almost immediately Tom called him over.

"! I sent your elf up to your room. "

"Thank you Tom." With that said Harry went up to his room.

The first thing that caught Harry's attention was that the room was cleaner than when he had left. The second thing was Twink sitting on the bed staring at him. Harry took a second to get a good look at Twink. It was a funny looking creature. Big floppy ears and bug eyes combined with yellowish skin and a pillow case as his only clothing.

"Hello Twink, did you clean this place?" Harry addressed the elf.

The elf began to pull his ears "Yes master, has Twink done wrong? Ooh bad Twink should have waited for master. " The creature began to bang its head on the wall while it berated itself. Harry at a loss of what to do yelled for him to stop. And just like tht Twink froze.

"Twink its fine I was just wondering if you had done the cleaning. I'm not upset. From now on don't punish yourself unless I say so. Got it?"

"Yes master, you are kind to not make Twink punish himself." The elf was very humble it seemed.

"Well Twink I'm not sure what you can do for me now, but I know that Tom has elves downstairs who work in the kitchen. If you want you may go ask if you can work with them." Twink seemed to brighten up at the prospect of work. Funny little buggers house elves were. The elf disappeared with a small crack.

Once the elf was gone Harry took his place on the be and replaced his trunk in the corner. He took out the book on legilemency and began to read. The first chapter was titled Reading Surface Thoughts. Unlike occlumency legilemency is an actual spell, so it wouldn't take as long to learn, but the hard part came in finding people to practice on. Since technically it was illegal to read the thoughts of anyone who didn't give consent Harry would have to be real careful with who he tried the spell on. The spell was not fueled by intent like most others, but will power. You had to have stronger will power than the person who's mind you were invading. According to the book a wand was not necessary for the spell to work, but it made it much easier and was reccomended for beginners. To perform it you had to point your wand at the person and say Legilems. Eye contact also made the spell more effective, but once again it wasn't necessary. Lucky for Harry he had a whole Alley full of unsuspecting people he could practice on. The later chapters detailed how to get around Occlumency and make your intrusion less noticeable.

Twink hadn't returned yet so Harry assumed Tom put him to work. It was almost 6 now and Harry hadn't eaten all day. He decided to go down and grab a quick bite to eat. "Tom can I have some dinner?"

"Sure Mr. Potter. What will you have?"

"I'll have some pumpkin juice and fish and chips." Harry told him. Tom told him that would be two galleons. Harry paid the bartender and a few minutes later his food was out. He quickly devoured the food and went back to his room to take a shower. By now it was almost seven. Harry went to grab the cloak he had bought and noticed there was something in the pocket. When he removed it, he found it to be a tattered looking book, but there was nothing written in it. This hadn't been here when he had bought it, that he was sure of "Could Lucius have put it there when he ran into me." Harry wondered aloud to himself. "How could I have missed that." The book seemed pretty normal, but Harry wasn't about to trust any item he wasn't sure where it came from. He continued to inspect the book, but nothing he did would get any reaction from it. Finally, he opened it and was about to write in it, when he decided it might not be best to write anything about himself in it. Instead he wrote the first thing he thought of. _Lord Voldemort. _For a moment the ink shone in the light and then it vanished into the pages. What happened next shocked Harry completely. The book wrote back.

_How do you know who I am?_ The words appeared in ink where Harry had previously written.


	6. Chapter 6

_**How do you know who I am?**_The words appeared in ink where Harry had previously written.

The quill Hary had been holding now lay on the floor. His heart was beating. "Its impossible. Lord Voldemort is a spirit, not a book. How could this be him?! It must be some type of trick." The book seemed to be getting impatient as it wrote again Now the words _**Who are you?**_ appeared under the last. "This can't be happening Harry. Its just a book." He gathered up the quill he had dropped and started to write back. Under the sentences from the book he wrote _**You aren't Voldemort. Voldemort is a spirit, not some book. **_The words sank into the book and the page was clean again. Moments later a response appeared. _**I am Lord Voldemort. Look at the back cover of the book, and then write what you find there here. **_Harry turned the book over and opened it, on the back in golden letters was the name Tom M. Riddle. Opening to the first page Harry wrote it out, and watched as the the works disappeared again. ** Tom M. Riddle was my name before Lord Voldemort. Tom Marvolo Riddle. When rearranged the letters spell out I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.**Harry took a clean piece of parchement out and wrote the name. Sure enough, when he rearranged it the letters spelt out the phrase. _What now? _ Harry was at a crossroad _Should I ask about last year?_ Deciding there was nothing to lose from asking Harry wrote back. _**I am Harry Potter. Do you remember me?**_ Harry tried to settle his racing heart while he waited for a response. _**No, should I know who you are? **_ Harry was confused now. Surely he would remember him. He had been his pupil for the entire school year. _**How could you not? You were my mentor last year, before Longbottom killed you. **_If the previous response had Harry confuse the next one left him not knowing what was going on. _**Mentor? I gave you lessons? How old are you? And what do you mean killed me. **_ For some reason Harry felt compelled to answer, so he spent the next fifteen minutes recounting what had happened last year, it seemed like Voldemort had no recollection of what happened. When he was done Voldemort responded. _**Well since I offered to train you you must be exceptionally powerful, I will continue where my otherself left off, but I will throw in a few more things you can use. **_

This was perfect, Harry had found a new mentor, and it was the same man who had been his previous mentor. But he had one question. _** Why did you not remember any of this? **_Harry was curious as to the why, but the answer he got was not at all what he was epecting. _**I am not the same Lord Voldemort you knew, I am but a memory of him, preserved in this diary. I am only 16. **_You could preserve yourself in objects? That openend a whole new world of possibilites. Was Voldemort the only one to preserve himself? What if others had. People long thought to be deceased could really be alive, in their items. _**This has been a lot to absorb. Rest tonight, but tomorrow I am going to tell you about something that will drain your energy quickly. And for future conversations call me Tom. **_ Harry closed the book once he was done reading the last message, andput it deep into his trunk. He would need to find a safer place to put that, but for tonight it would do. He was climbing into bed when he realised he had neglected to feed his owl. Getting up he grabbed a few treats from the trunk and gave them to the bird. Said bird hooted appreciatively. "Good girl, I'm tired now, but tomorrow I will think of a name for you," he then remembered Daphne and added "and I'll have a letter for you to deliver as well."

_SCREAM! BEG FOR MERCY! I WANT TO SEE THE LIFE LEAVE YOUR EYES! A hand reached down and grabbed the head of the old man laying before him. He jerked the head violently upwards so he could stare into the eyes of his victim. The eyes were empty, hollow and death was reflected in them. Staring back at him was the Headmaster. "How the mighty have fallen? You thought to be the greatest wizard were defeated by a mere student. Some one you let go through your halls. That's two now you've let slip away, but don't worry I won't let you make the same mistakes again. Goodbye Dumbledore. Avada Kedavra. _

Harry sat up in his bed. Sweat dripped down his forehead and back. "Did I just dream that? I killed the Headmaster, and it felt so… so right. But why? I've never had a dream like that before." It was all so confusing. First he somehow comes into posession of book that contains a memory of Lord Voldemort. And now he had a dream that he was killing the Headmaster. It was true he planned on being the one to kill him, but never before had he dreamt it. And what had he meant when he said two people Dumbledore let slip. It was too much for right now. There were no answers and only more questions the longer he thought about it. All he could do was try and sleep again, and hope the dream didn't come back. Tomorrow he would ask Tom about it.

As like the day before the sun woke Harry early, and as hard as he tried he couldn't return to sleep. There was no breakfast on the table yet, so Harry assumed he was up even earlier then yesterday. He got up and stretched out his muscles. He took a look over and noticed his owl was sleeping on the window. He needed a name for her, racking his brain he recalled the name of one witch he had read about _Hedwig_. The witch had been wise, and very beautiful so the name seemed to fit. _"_That's one less thing I have to do now." Harry went to his trunk and pulled out a clean pair of robes. All he had were his black school robes, and he decided to correct this next time he went out. He didn't know what to look for when robe shopping, but Madam Malkin could probably help him. He hopped into the shower to wake himself up a bit more before he started his day. When Harry got out and had changed, he went back into his room, and on the table there was a tray of food with a pitcher of pumpkin juice. He quickly polished off the food left for him, with some help from his now awake owl.

Harry tested out the name he had picked for the owl "Hedwig I'm going to write a letter to my friend Daphne, and I would like you to deliver it to her. Can you find where she lives?" If anything Hedwig seemed irritated at the doubt that she would be unable to find a location and complete her delivery. The she saw fit to express her displeasure with a quick peck from her sharp peak on th back of poor Harry's hand. Harry watched as the upset bird flew over to the window and perched on the windowsill with her back to him.

"Oh that's mature, just ignore me now because I asked one question." It then dawned on Harry he was attemtping to make an owl feel bad about ignoring him. Giving up Harry dipped his quill into ink and started his letter to Daphne, hoping she would accept his apology and still be his friend.

Many tries later Harry was getting frustrated with himself. He couldn't seem to come up with the right way of wording what he wanted to say. Daphne was his friend, but she was still a Slytherin, and he didn't want to take any risks with letting people know about his mentor. That left the problem of how he explained his mood at the end of the year though. By now he had six or seven crumpled pieces of parchment next to him. Fifteen minutes later he had come up with something that didn't sound terrible, but also kept his secrets. It read:

_Daphne,_

_Hey, its Harry. I hope this gets to you soon, my owl is new and I don't know how reliable she is. Anyway the reason I'm sending this is because I wanted to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong, and I lashed out at you. I had no right, and I'm sorry. I know you aren't going to accept this without a reason why I was upset, but the truth is I can't explain it. Maybe it was just stress from the end of the year, but when Dumbledore so obviously favored the Gryffindors I flipped. I know this probably doesn't satisfy you, but it's the only reason I could think of. I hope I won't lose you as a friend. Please respond. _

_Harry_

It wasn't great, but he could only hope that it would be good enough. After signing it Harry transfigured his quill into a piece of thread and rolled up the parchement and tied it. He called for Hedwig, but she just sat stoic and ignored him. Probably still annoyed from earlier. Sighing Harry made another trip to his trunk to grab an owl treat.

"Here Hedwig, if you deliver this letter I'll give you a treat." That got the bird's attention and it flew over and landed on Harry's arm. He quickly tied the letter to the bird's leg before it changed its mind and then gave it the treat. Once she had finished Hedwig took off towards the window only to stop short of running into the glass. It turned an annoyed stare at Harry again, who realized he hadn't hoped the window to let the bird out. Quickly shuffling over he did just that, and watched as the bird flew away.

"Ruddy tempremental animal." Harry muttered to himself. Now that that was out of the way, he could focus on some of the other thing she had to do today. Priorities first though, Tom had wanted to start tutoring today. He should probably write and find out what was going to happen, and maybe mention his dream. He opened the trunk again, and pushed aside the items he had used to bury the diary. It was still hard to believe the luck he had of coming across such an item. And for a moment he just stared in reverence at the book. Then he set it on the table and opened to the front page.

_**Good Morning Tom**__(Harry)_

_**Good morning Harry, are you ready to begin? **__(Tom)_

_**Wow right to the point, just like you're older self. Yes I am, but first I have to tell you about my dream**__(Harry)_

_**Dream? What did you dream that is so important? **__(Tom)_

_**Last night I dreamt I killed Dumbledore.**__ (Harry)_

_**That is it? Many people I assure you dream the same thing. Now stop wasting valubale time. **__(Tom)_

_**No that wasn't all it was something I or who I think was me said.**_

_**Well be out with it, what was said. **__(Tom)_

_**I don't remember the exact wording, but I said something about Dumbledore letting two people slip away, I assume one is me, but I am at a loss as to who the other was, or how it was Dumbledores fault.**__ (Harry)_

_**Intriguing, you dreamed this you say? Well I do know of who it refers, but it is not important at the moment. I will explain another time. Now is that all? **__(Tom)_

_**Yes**__(Harry)_

_**Good, we can begin now. Tell me, did you ever see my other self perform magic without a wand? **__(Tom)_

_**Without a wand? Is that possible, but no all he ever did was wordless.**__ (Harry)_

_**Of course its possible, I would not have mentioned it if it wasn't! **__(Tom)_

_**Sorry Tom I won't question you anymore**__(Harry)_

_**No you foolish boy, you may question things, but do not ask stupid questions like that. Understand? **__(Tom)_

_**Yes, so if its possible why do we use wands?**__(Harry)_

_**Because wands make everything easier, and most of the time stronger as well. And because not everyone is capable of wandless magic. You have to be strong to perform most of the useful spells. **__(Tom)_

_**So how do I do wandless magic?**__ (Harry)_

_**There is a catch, wandless magic must be done wordlessly, so first you must learn to silent spellcast. **__(Tom)_

_**Okay, I'm willing to learn. Can you tell me how to start?**__ (Harry)_

_**I can do better, I can show you. **__(Tom)_

Suddenly the book's page began to glow and then Harry was momentarily blinded. When he could see again Harry found himself no longer in the small room at the Leaky Cauldron, but a massive chamber. Not only was it massive but it was damp, and looked to be thousands of years old. There were some carved pillars all around the chamber, but they paled in comparison to the enormous head positioned in the middle of the chamber. On closer inspection Harry noticed he wasn't alone. Standing in the center of the room was another boy. He had dark hair and blue eyes. He appeared to be a year or two older than Harry. He was wearing Slytherin robes, so that was one thing Harry had in common with the boy.

"Where am I?!" Harry was very unhappy, perhaps the book had been cursed or something. He shouldn't have trusted Tom so willingly. Now he was trapped. . . somewhere with no clue how to get back. And it seemed that the other boy was ignoring him. Harry moved closer and attemtped to get the boy's attention, but his hand passed right through. "What the hell?" Without warning the boy raised his hand and Harry watched as a piece of stone a few feet away began to float. Then it dawned on hit what he was seeing. This was Tom, and he was using wandless magic. It appeared pretty simple to do. No wand motions, no complicated words. Harry couldn't understand what was so hard about it. Then just like earlier, Harry was blinded and when he regained vision he was back in his room.

_**Tom? What was that?! And who the hell gave you permission to just take me from my room like that?**__ (Harry)_

_**This diary holds many secrets, that is just one of them. I can show you memories of things I saw when I was younger. What you just saw was me performing a wandless levitation spell. And you asked for me to teach you, I just chose to show you instead of explaining how it worked. **__(Tom)_

_**Fine, next time warn me please before you do that. But I don't understand what was so hard about it, no wand motions, no words, it sounds easier than regular casting.**__ (Harry)_

_**That is true, and it does appear much easier, but the amount of focus reuired to cast a spell wandlessly is not something everyone can obtain. If you were to let go of your focus the spell would fizzle out and not work. **__(Tom)_

_**Oh I understand. So when will I start to learn Tom?**__ (Harry)_

_**Right now you foolish boy, you will start with wordless casting. Point your wand at a chair, and do all the motions you normally would for a levitation charm. But do not say the word aloud. Instead think it. **__(Tom)_

Harry put down the book and turned to face the wooden chair next to the table. With a swish of his wrist his wand was leveled at his target. Slowly he began to go through the wand movements. At first it was hard, he wanted to say the spell and would mess up. After twenty minutes or so of practicing with no results a frustrated Harry returned to the book to seek advice.

_**Tom, its not working. The chair isn't even wiggling. **__(Harry)_

_**You need to concentrate on your task. You told me you know some occlumency, yes? Use that to block out everything else right now, and focus only on thinking the spell. **__(Tom)_

Feeling slightly dumb for not thinking of that in the first place Harry returned with a renewed vigor to his task. Once again he leveled his wand at the chair, and then he slammed down on his occlumency shields. Everything was blank, he was surrounded by nothing and there was only his target. He made the wand movement and thought _wingardium leviosa!_ And to Harry's shock the chair did not just float, it bolted into the air a good three feet up.

_**Tom I did it, but why didn't it start off like when I first learned the levitation charm, where the object would only float a little?**__ (Harry)_

_**Because you aren't learning a new spell, it's the same spell just without words. There is no reason for it to be any weaker than when you woul normally cast it. Now that you understand the concept you must practice daily, not with just one spell either. Everyday after you wake up you will practice for an hour and a half on your wordless casting. Then you will take thirty minutes to attempt wandless, do not grow frustrated when you are unable to do anything wandlessly, it will take a lot of practice. **__(Tom)_

_**Should I try wandless now then?**__ (Harry)_

_**Yes go ahead and give it a go. Focus on your target, and at the task at hand. Do the same thing you just did for the silent casting, but without the motion. Oh, and do not be surprised if its not as powerful, wandless never is because its essentially just raw magic, where as your wand refines it. **__(Tom)_

Harry was truly hoping to prove Tom wrong. His mentor had said he wouldn't get any results, but he desperately wanted for something to happen. This was his chance to prove himself. He held his hand out towards the chair, and then let himself slip into his occluded mind. Physically he was still in the room, but mentally it was as if he had fallen into a swirling sky, multiple white balls shot across the dark background. In front of him was the chair he was supposed to levitate, but why should he? There was no reason for him to. Suddenly the image shifted, instead of a chair Steve stood in it's spot. Harry focused on his new target and couldn't help but let out a small laugh. The thought of Steve suspended in the air screaming for help was too much. He would be completely powerless. Quickly regaining focus Harry did as he had been instructed and raised his hand again, then he thought _wingardium leviosa!_ Nothing happened and Steve began to laugh. Harry tried again to levitate the boy, but It failed again. Again and again he tried with the same result. Steve began to taunt him after multiple failed attempts. "You're good for noting Potty, you can't even be a freak right!" _NO! _"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Harry lost his composure and his concentration. He threw both of his hands towards Steve, _WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA! _ The boy went about 6 feet into the air before the spell stopped working and then he fell. A noisy clatter brought Harry out of his mind as Steve plummeted head first into the dark void.

A loud knocking on his door immediately caught Harry's attention.

"! Is everything alright in there?" The bartender's voice was easily recognizable. Not having any engery left Harry just yelled to the man through the door.

"Everything's alright Tom, sorry for the noise I accidentally knocked over a chair is all."

"Are you sure Mr. Potter? That was some racous up here."

"Yes Tom I'm fine, thank you for asking though."

"If you say so, I'll be heading back down now. Holler if ya need anything."

Harry waited until there were no more heavy footsteps and creaks coming from the staircase before opening the book and writing to his mentor about what had happened.

_**Contrary to what you most likely think, what you did at the end was NOT wandless magic. It was nothing but accidental magic, emotionally supercharged. If you want to master this, you must NOT LET YOUR EMOTIONS TAKE HOLD. Do you understand?! **__(Tom)_

_**I understand, it was so hard though. Steve he was….**__(Harry)_

_**I DO NOT CARE WHAT HE WAS DOING, YOU ARE A WIZARD AND HE IS MUGGLE. YOU ARE ALREADY MORE THAN HE WILL EVER BE. NOTHING HE SAYS SHOULD BOTHER YOU, SO DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN. **__(Tom)_

_**I'm sorry Tom. **_ Harry felt like a complete failure to his mentor now.

_**Do not apologize, it shows weakness. As does making excuses, you will do neither. You will learn from this and fix your mistakes. If you don't then I will stop teaching you. That is all I have to say to you for now. Rest for a while and later I will talk to you about what you shall be learning. **__(Tom)_

Harry was ashamed. Tom was right, he had let someone who meant nothing get the better of him. He wasn't going to make excuses, all there was to do was move on and not let it happen again. Harry desperately wanted to rest, but first he needed to get some new robes to wear. Harry slowly pulled himself out of the seated position he had taken on the floor, and gathered up the book and his quill. After he had hidden the diary away deep in his trunk Harry headed downstairs. Tom didn't say anything to him, but Harry noticed the man giving him some glances and apparently checking for any injuries. It made Harry uneasy to know he was being observed and he made his way to the back exit as fast as he could.

Once in the alley he felt better knowing someone wasn't staring at him. Diagon was surprisingly empty, it wasn't deserted, but nothing like the rush of people that would be there later in the summer. Not really being in any hurry Harry walked slowly down the white stone road observing all the displays. It appeared there was a new broom out or coming out soon as the quidditch store had a large display showing a player in gold robes riding one. Quidditch didn't really interest Harry, it seemed like such a waste of time. Instead of learning and training he would be out on a broom flying around for hours, useless. The pet shop had its normal display out showing off some rare breeds of owls. In the apothecary's window there was a set of gold cauldrons and some ingredients surounding them. It was only a few minutes before Harry found himself in front of Madam Malkin's . The shop had a welcoming feel to it, and Harry couldn't help but wonder if there were some charms to make it seem that way. He pushed the door open and a bell chimed presumably alerting the staff there was a costumer.

"Hello dear, how may I help you?" a woman with came out of the back and addressed him.

"I'm in need of some robes to wear, all I have is my school ones and I thought some casual robes would suit me well." Harry asnwered honestly.

"You have come to the right place then, and are correct in wanting something other than those school robes. Stand up here and I'll get right to work measuring you so we can set you up with some new robes." She was gesturing to a pedestle in the middle of the store. Harry walked over and stepped up and almost immediately a tape measure came flying at him and began taking every measurement possible. The woman, who Harr assumed was Madam Malkin, began to talk again.

"Yes yes, with those color eyes and hair red robes are definitely out. Something darker will suit you better, perhaps a forest green robe, a black with silver trimming, or maybe a dark blue. Do any of those appeal to you?" She turned and asked him.

"Umm, the black one sounds nice and maybe the green, but I'm not sure about the blue." Harry answered.

"Then green and black it is, how many of each would you like? Just one?" She had produced a quill and parchment and began to write out Harry's order.

"No, two green, and two of the black with silver, and could I get just one plain black robe also?"

"You most certainly may young man." The witch finished filling out his order and sent it flying into the back room she had come out of. "The total price is going to be 30 galleons, will you pay now or later when you come to pick up your robes?"

"I can pay now," Harry said as he produced one of his pouches filled with galleons. He opened it and counted out thirty, but that left him with almost no money since he had spent a decent amount shopping in Knockturn. It looked like he would have to make a trip to Gringott's today as well. "How long until the robes are done?" Harry questioned the woman.

"It should only take two hours at the most. I will hold them until you come back though so don't worry about being right on time." With everything paid for and arranged Harry left the store and began the walk to the bank.

Just like last time when he went two imposing looking guards equipped with very large spears were positioned outside of bank doors. Harry could never understand why anyone would try and cheat a goblin. He went to the closest teller that was open since he didn't feel like waiting in line.

"Hello, I'm Harry Potter and I need to go to my vault. "

The goblin for the most part looked bored, "Do you have your key?"

Harry reached into his pocket and placed the key on the counter. The goblin picked it up and examined it. "Very well, you may go to your vault, but first one of our department heads has requested to see you. Go to the end over there, turn right down the hallway and then it will be the first door on your left. Knock before entering. NEXT!"

Confused as to why a goblin would want to see him Harry was cautious as he approached where he was was directed to go. Tentatively he knocked on the door and heard a muffled "enter" from the other side. He slowly slid the door open and entered.

"Mr. Potter, I was not expecting to see you so soon, but this will work. Right to business, it appears you are without a permanent residence. Before you ask how I know this I will tell you, we keep a record of all magical orphans in Britain who are pureblood or who have an inheitance due to them from a magical relative. You have two places which you could reside, on is your family manor. It is quite large and very old. Or you could reside in the house that your parent's bought before they were killed."

Harry's head was spinning from what he had just heard. So he had somehwere he could live? That would definitely make things easier. He wouldn't have to worry about being disturbed. He did not want to stay at a manor though, if it was just going to be him it would be way too large. The smaller house would do just fine. Harry told the Goblin of his decision.

"That is what I expected, but the house needs a lot of work. If you want I could suggest someone to fix it up for you. " The goblin offered. Harry almost asked who, but the he had an idea.

"Could I use my house elf to do the repairs? " Harry asked thinking of how much Twink would enjoy the work.

"I suppose, it would take a lot longer, but in the long run if you aren't in a hurry to move it would save you a lot of galleons." The goblin head told him.

"All right, I will have my house elf do the repairs then. Twink!." A soft pop behind him indicted his elf had arrived. "Twink I'm going to be moving into a house, but it needs repairs, I'm assigning you to fix it." Harry informed him. The elf seemed ready to burst at the thought of such a big job.

"Oh thank you master, you is so kind to Twink!"

"Good now that that's settled I can tell you where the house is and then you can be on your way to your vault. The house is located at number 5 Godric Hollow. " As soon as the address had been given Twink disappeared leaving just Harry and the goblin.

"Thank you for your help today." Harry said to the goblin.

"You are welcome, my name is Ragnarok by the way, if you need anything else concerning the house just sk for a meeting with me at the front desk. I will have Griphook escort you to your vault now." The same goblin as last time took Harry down to his vault to fill up his money bags. Once Harry was back outside the bank he checked the time.

"Tempus" Harry watched as four smokey numbers came out of his wand. It was only 1:37. He still had almost an hour to wait before his robes would be done. Having nothing else to do, Harry decided to get some ice cream. Ten minutes later and two galleons lighter Harry was seated on a bench observing the people walking by as he ate his ice cream.

It took Harry about fifteen minutes to finish eating. And then he was completely out of things to do while he waited. Getting an idea Harry let a small smirk grace his lips before he quickly masked it. He discreetly placed his wand in his lap and hid it away so no one could tell he had it aimed. Picking his first victim Harry maneuvered himself so that the wand was aimed at a man walking along. Harry used his occlumency to concetrate on his goal and silently sent a tripping jinx at his target. The man never saw it coming and it hit dead on, causing the man to fall flat on his face. Harry wanted to burst out laughing, but that would have been a give away. Besides, he wasn't supposed to be able to do magic outside of school yet. For the next thirty minutes Harry practiced his silent spell casting. He was still having difficulty with some of the spells, but the simpler ones, like the tripping jinx, worked really well. On one occasion a woman had accused Harry of doing something to her, to which he calmly reminded her that he was still in school and not allowed to do magic outside of school. If anything this had riled the woman up more and she had stormed away muttering about inconsiderate and disrespectul children.

It didn't take long to get the robes. Harry had walked in and Madam Malkin had already had them ready to go. She handed them to him, he thanked her again and then he left. Harry returned to his room in The Leaky Cauldron at about 3 o clock. He was still exhausted from his earlier outburst, and decided a nap might do him some good. He stored his new robes in his trunk, and made a mental note to tell Tom about his progress with silent casting once he woke up. Once everything was in its place he slipped into bed and let himself fall into an easy sleep.

It wasn't until much later that Harry was woken up by a persistent tapping noise. Tap tap tap. At first he tried to ignore it, but it wasn't working. Then he pulled a pillow over his head, but the tapping got louder. Finally he gave in and decided to see what the annoying noise was. Looking around he found the source rather quickly. His owl was outside the window violently pecking at the window which he had closed. Not wanting to incur the wrath of the bird Harry moved fast to get the window open. It seemed it was all for not because the tempermental bird pecked his head anyway. It was then that Harry noticed the letter attached to its leg. He cautiously removed it, fearing for his hand the entire time. Unrolling it he allowed a genuine smile to pass his slips as he recognized Daphne's handwriting. He still was nervous though about what her response was going to be. Taking a deep breathe and then letting it out, he began to read.

_Harry_

_I have to admit I'm surprised you wrote to me. I didn't think you would apologize. And you were right in thinking that your explanation wasn't good enough. I was just trying to be kind and make sure you were okay. I don't completely forgive you yet, but the fact that you wrote is a good start. Anyway, I have to stop writing now. I hope you keep in touch this summer and maybe we can arrange to see each other. _

_Your friend_

_Daphne_

Harry let out a sigh of relief. Daphne was still his friend. It would not have been good had he lost one of his only two friends. Especially since he was in Slytherin, friends were hard to come by in a house filled with people looking gain as much power and political recognition as possible. Even if that meant tearing down someone you had known all your life.

Harry decided he would respond to her letter tomorrow, and put it aside for the moment. He fished through his trunk and pulled out the diary and his quill. Opening it he wrote to Tom to let him know he was back.

_**Are you well rested Harry? **__(Tom)_

_**Yes, I had some things to do earlier in the day, but I took a long nap once they were done.**__ (Harry)_

_**What things? **__(Tom)_

_**I needed some robes, and I made a stop at the bank to get more galleons. But while I was there one of the head goblins informed me I had a house that I could move into once it was repaired. I have assigned my house elf Twink to the job. **__(Harry)_

_**A permanent residence? Very good. That will come in handy later on when you need privacy. **__(Tom)_

_**I also practiced some of my silent casting today as well.**_ Harry recounted what he had done for Tom, who seemed amused by the tale.

_**That is very good, just remember to act with discretion, some people are smarter than they appear and you're tricks won't go unnoticed forever. Don't worry though, once I teach you legilemency you will be able to judge which people to be cautious of.**__ (Tom)_

_**You're going to teach me legilemency?**__ (Harry)_

_**Yes, it is a valuable tool to have. Tell me do you know what it does.**__ (Tom)_

_**Yeah, you can see a person's memories.**__ (Harry)_

_**Yes, but no. It allows you to see memories, feel their emotions, or even judge whether or not they are telling the truth. Seeing memories is the most difficult form of legilemency, which is why you will start with sensing emotions. **__(Tom)_

_**So I'll be able to tell how someone is feeling? How is that helpful to me though?**__ (Harry)_

_**Think, you will be able to tell if someone is uncomfortable around you, or anxious. Perhaps they are going to betray you. You would have a warning and know to be cautious.**__ (Tom)_

_**Oh, that makes sense. **_ Harry hadn't even considered that, but it made a lot of sense. _**How am I going to practice though? Wouldn't I need someone to let me try it on them?**_ Harry could practically see the smirk as Tom wrote his response.

_**The same way you practiced your silent spell casting of course. Sensing emotions is very subtle and often not detected so you will be safe practicing it on people. **__(Tom)_

_**Okay, will I start tomorrow then? **__(Harry)_

_**Yes, after you are done with your wandless practice you will be working on legilemency. **__(Tom)_

_**What else are you going to teach me? **_ Harry was extremely curious as to what he would be learning.

_**I will also show you some Occlumency techniques that aren't talked about very often. As well as a few more powerful spells that will help you out this year. But mostly I'm going to discuss how you are going to go about practicing undetected. I have plans for your school year, but they are not ready yet. It will require you to break multiple rules, and I can't have you being caught or even suspected.**__ (Tom)_

Upon reading that Harry was anxious, he wondered what the plan could possibly involve, but didn't dare ask since he was sure Tom would have told him more if he wanted to.

_**I won't fail you. I'll work until I'm the best. **__(Harry)_

_**We'll see. Go to sleep. You are going to need as much energy as possible these next few weeks. **__(Tom)_

Harry did as he was told and once again locked the diary away before climbing into bed, hundreds of thoughts about a mysterious plan brewing in his head.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry stepped through the hole in the wall and began walking to the ice cream shop. He was dressed in his new black robe and had the diary tucked away in one of the pockets. The alley was slightly more crowded than the previous day. Harry didn't mind as this would provide him more targets and more cover while he was practicing. In a few minutes he was going to be starting his legilemency training. He was excited, but nervous at the same time. If he got caught he had no clue what might happen to him.

"What can I get for you?" a voice pulled Harry out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?" Harry then realized he had reached his destination and had been standing in front of the counter "Oh, I'll have an ice cream cone with pumpkin flavored ice cream please."

"Certainly, that will be one galleon." Harry watched as the man flicked his wand and the ice cream scooped itself into a cone he was holding. After paying he made his way over to the bench he had sat on yesterday.

Once he sat down Harry pulled out the diary and a quill and began to write to Tom.

_**Okay I'm in a spot. How do I use legilemency?**_ (Harry)

_**There are two ways, one is without your wand and the other uses your wand. For now you are going to do it without your wand since you are only concentrating on emotions. You will pick someone and then concentrate like you do for wandless magic and say legilems. Eye contact makes it easier to accomplish, but that would be too obvious. That's all there is to it. Do not press with your magic or you will start going deeper into their mind and if they have any occlumency you will be found out. Now begin and tell me of your results when you have finished. **_ (Tom)

Harry closed the diary and tucked it back into his pocket. He didn't want to get lost in his concentration and risk having someone snatch the book up. Harry thought about finishing his ice cream before starting, but then decided it worked better if he didn't. Because who was really going to accuse an 11 year old boy eating ice cream of invading their mind?

Just then a woman went up to purchase some ice cream. The woman wasn't very tall, but not short either. She had curly brown hair and an oval face. Her eyes were blue, and her nose looked to tiny and out of proportion with the rest of her head. Harry decided she would make a fine first attempt. He let himself fall into his mind like he did so often now. He had become quite good at it, and it came happened much faster now. _Legilems_. For a split second Harry felt something, but he wasn't sure what. The sudden rush of emotion had given him a shock and he had broken the connection. Now that he knew what to expect he would be ready for it.

The woman hadn't left yet, and she appeared to be flirting with the man behind the counter. Harry decided to give it another try. _Legilems_ This time he was ready for the rush, but it didn't make it any easier to tell what she was feeling. There was a mix, but mostly it seemed she was happy. Harry pulled himself out, and scrunched his face up in confusion. "That seemed way too easy, why do I have to practice it?" He was confused. That took no effort at all. Deciding it couldn't hurt to try again, Harry picked another person. This time it was a short balding man dressed in some faded black robes. _Legilems_. Just like before Harry got in without too much difficulty, but what happened next caught him off guard. He was thrown out of the mind.

"Woah" Harry was nervous for a minute as the man seemed to be looking around for the culprit, as he looked at Harry he paused and then shook his head and kept going. Now he understood why he needed to practice. The man had noticed what he was doing and used occlumency to push him out. He would have to be more prepared for things like that if he was going to keep doing this.

For another hour Harry occupied himself with scanning different people to see how they were feeling. In total he had only been thrown out three times, and had managed to avoid two other attempts at throwing him out. Overall he had thought it went relatively well. Before he told Tom of his progress he decided to get some dinner since he was famished.

He walked to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron and tapped the bricks. Walking in he told Tom what he wanted and paid the bartender as he took a seat at a small table. When his food appeared it reminded Harry of Twink, and his future house. Once he finished dinner he decided to call the elf and find out the progress.

It didn't take him long to finish, only about ten minutes and soon he was up in his room diary out and ready to start again. First he called Twink though.

"Master Potter has called Twink?" The elf asked when it appeared.

"Yes I wanted to know how the repairs were going on the house." Harry told the creature.

"Oh, they is going wonderful master. But there is still lots to be done. Twink will need more time..." Seeing the elf was nervous after saying the last part Harry told him it was fine and not to worry. He wasn't in any rush to move at the moment. Harry dismissed Twink and told him to go back to work. The elf left with a soft pop, and then it was just Harry.

He filled Hedwig's water dish and then began to write. He told Tom of everything that had happened during his practice, and about the house.

_**Yes, I'm glad you realized what happened; I would have been displeased had you asked me. Now you know why you must start small, if you had tried to go all out and read memories you might have become trapped. **_(Tom)

_**Trapped? **_Harry did not like how that sounded.

_**It is a rather advanced form of occlumency. If you are detected the oculems could close their barriers and trap you, and then they could force you to relive one moment of pain they experienced over and over. It is very dangerous and highly frowned upon by the Ministry of Magic. **_

That definitely wasn't good, and Harry decided he would be extra cautious when poking around in other people's minds.

_**Now, tell me how far you have come with your Occlumency. **_ Harry told him the defense he had so far, and for the most part Tom seemed to think it was acceptable.

_**It will work, but I want you to work on adding just a blank sky over top of the shield you already have. That way an intruder will have to go through something to access your memories, it gives you more time to stop them.**_

Harry read over what Tom wanted him to do and after telling him that he was going to attempt it, shut the diary. Harry laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. By now he had practiced this enough he could almost instantly make himself fall into his meditation like state. The process of adding a new layer was going to take some time and Harry quickly went to work.

After some time Harry had gotten almost nowhere, and cursed himself for forgetting to look into his occlumency book to begin with. So far it was nothing like adding the first layer, because every time he tried to put the second layer on top, his memories would move on top of it, which defeated the purpose entirely. Resigning himself to having to read, Harry pulled himself out of his mediation state.

Not really feeling like having to get up, Harry used his wand to quickly summon the book to him. He used the table of contents to find what he was looking for, and turned to somewhere in the middle of the book. After reading the page over a couple of times it seemed like it was going to be a much more complex process than he thought. It turned out it wasn't like the first one at all. Where he had just been able to will it there in way, this one would have to be "weaved" into the first layer. He would have to use his magic to tie the new layer to the old. The book described it as a complex process that would most likely take hours to complete.

Groaning a little at the ridiculous amount of work necessary for one blank shield, Harry lay back down and let himself fall into his mediation once again. He got started right away, not wanting to take any more time than necessary. He let himself feel everything around him. The sensations were intense, and the feeling of raw magic power was euphoric. So much so that he nearly became lost in the sensations. _FOCUS a voice shouted. _ That snapped him out of it and made him lose his hold on the magic.

"Who said that?! " Harry shouted, forgetting he was in his own mind. Their couldn't possibly be anyone else there. He decided it must have been his subconscious self. Harry gathered himself up and tried again to weave his magic into a new layer. After another hour and a half of no success he finally withdrew from his mind.

Once he awoke from his comatose state he slammed is fists down on the bed. "Why can't I get it to work!" He took out the diary again and began writing to Tom. He recounted his attempts to him in full detail hoping Tom would tell him what he had done wrong. His frustrations only grew though when he received no response. Still frustrated from his failure earlier, Harry attempted to put his anger into words so Tom could see how mad he was, but this backfired on him completely.

_**Do not take your frustration out on me. YOU CAN DO NOTHING TO HURT ME. But I can make you do anything. (Tom)**_

And then Harry felt himself passing out, but he wasn't really passing out. It was more like he was falling into his mediation state and could still see what was happening around him. Something wasn't right though. He was moving. How could that be? Harry watched with growing confusion as he took his wand and pointed it at a chair. With a wave of the wand the chair flew into the air. Then it was over, and Harry found himself back in control. He looked to the open book for answers.

_**What was that?! **__(Harry)_

_**I was teaching you a lesson. Do not cross me. I am the one with the power. Now, I knew you would fail with your occlumency. **_

_**What? How did you know I would fail?**_

_**It is simply to complex of a process for you to grasp at this time. I have no doubt that by next year you might be able to though. **_

_**Then why assign me something I was going to fail at? **_Harry was getting angry again, but he needed to stay in control of his emotions for now.

_**Did you pay attention to anything I told you? It was all a lesson. I was testing you to see how hard you were willing to work, and how you dealt with failure. And I must say, you failed the second part rather spectacularly.**_

That last sentence hit Harry hard. He had failed and then not only had he failed, but he had taken it out on his mentor. The man who was teaching him to be great. He was disappointed in himself. He was a Slytherin; he shouldn't have lost control like that.

It was only his first day of training and it was already getting to him. He needed to distract himself with something else for awhile. He noticed Hedwig on her perch and decided to write to Blaise and Daphne. He didn't want to lose his only real friends so far by not keeping in touch. He decided to write his letter to Blaise first.

_Blaise,_

_Hey it's Harry. I wanted to let you know I was wrong for being angry at you and Daphne on the ride home. Hopefully you aren't too mad at me. I took your advice and wrote to Daphne and told her the same thing I just told you. Anyway, that's all I really had to say, hopefully we get to see each other over the break, but if not I hope you have an enjoyable summer. _

_Harry_

The letter was short and to the point, just like his first one to Daphne had been. He put it aside and started on his letter for Daphne.

_Daphne_

_It would be nice to see you sometime over the summer, and I hope we manage to. I'm glad you somewhat forgive me, even if it isn't fully. You and Blaise are my two closest friends, and to lose either of you because I couldn't control myself would have been terrible. I'm going to end here, because I'm actually doing some summer work. Hope to hear from you soon._

_Harry_

After reading through both letters again, Harry concluded that his letter writing ability was not very good. Most likely because he had never had anyone to write to before. For the time being they were passable, and as he wrote more they would most likely improve anyway.

He called Hedwig over, and tied both letters to her leg. Surprisingly she made no fuss at all. Harry gave his owl a questioning stare.

"What's this? No pecks, no 'you're an idiot' stare, and not even a single hoot of displeasure. Are you feeling okay?" Harry questioned his bird. Hedwig for her part just ignored him, and flew towards the window. Harry was really confused now. Was his owl sick? He got the answer to his question when heard a whoosh of wings and a sharp peck a second later on the back of his head. He turned just in time to see his bird fly out the window again, and he swore it was smirking at him. "Ruddy good for nothing bird!" Harry called out the window after her. He couldn't believe it; he had just been had by a bird. This was turning out to just not be his day.

He checked the time and found that it was around six thirty. Not really feeling in the mood for dinner, Harry decided to practice with wandless magic a little more. He sat cross-legged on top of his bed and concentrated on the quill he had been using to write his letters. In his mind, it was the only thing in the room. _Wingardium Leviosa_ the thought rang in his head. And the quill moved. It didn't float or leave the table, but it shook a little. Concentrating harder he repeated the spell. This time the feather started to lift, but never left the table. After another half an hour of practicing he had managed to get the feather about an inch off the table and keep it suspended. It wasn't much, but progress was good. Not having the energy to tell Tom about it, Harry changed out of his new robes and into his sleeping clothes. Then he laid down on the bed and reflected on his day. He had started doing some serious work, and if he wanted to be the best he knew he had to keep at it. Yet he couldn't help but recall that Tom could take possession of him. And for the first time, Harry really began to wonder about just what he had gotten himself into.

The weeks seemed to be flying by for Harry. Tomorrow was going to be his birthday already. While it went quick, that didn't mean it was easy. Quite the contrary, when Harry had told Tom he managed some wandless magic, Tom was thrilled. He had not thought Harry would be able to get any results for at least a week. This made Harry happy as well, because it seemed Tom had forgotten he was angry with him.

He wasn't to learn everything wandlessly just yet. For now he was only to practice spells that would have some practical use. After he had managed to get a hang of the levitation charm he had moved on to the disarming charm. It was taking time, and seemed like such tedious work, but Tom assured him that it would become much easier after he had the hang of four or five spells. The disarming spell, was a more powerful spell than the levitation charm, but Harry was still making progress. He had managed to knock over the chair and throw it back about a foot earlier.

His wandless abilities weren't the only thing to improve though. His skill with legilemency, while still mediocre was greatly improving. He hadn't been thrown out of someone's mind in two weeks. Once he managed three weeks of scanning with no error, Tom had said they could move onto looking for surface thoughts instead of emotions.

While the two things took up most of his time, he wasn't completely absorbed by the work he was doing. He had stayed in touch with Daphne and Blaise like he had wanted. And with any luck he would be seeing Daphne tomorrow, for a little while at least. Blaise was out of the country though, visiting relatives for a few weeks.

Daphne had convinced her parents to take her shopping for the next school year early, so as to avoid the crowd. She had told Harry they were going to get there around noon, and would be arriving through the Leaky Cauldron. So lucky for Harry, all he had to do was go downstairs and pretend to be eating lunch or a late breakfast. He hadn't told his friends about where he was staying yet. He didn't want anyone to pity him, and while he didn't think his friends would he wasn't going to take unnecessary chances.

His relationship with the owl from hell hadn't improved one bit. In fact, it seemed like the bird was making it into a game of sorts. To see how many ways she could trick him. Like the other day for example, Hedwig was laying down, as best an owl can, not moving. Harry found that strange because usually she would be up on her perch. He took an owl treat out of the box and walked over to where the bird was sprawled. At first he poked her, and got no response. He tried softly calling her name and still nothing. He was getting a tad worried now, and waved the treat under her beak. This resulted in him nearly having his fingers bit off. The greedy bird had just wanted a treat. Harry made the situation worse by accusing the bird of being fat and greedy. He spent the next 15 minutes dodging a bird hell bent on pecking his eyes out.

A soft pop drew Harry's attention away from his thoughts. He had his wand aimed at the sound of the noise, but put it back in its holster upon seeing it was only Twink. He had nearly forgotten about his elf, and the house.

"Master Potter sir, I has finished the house sir!"

"Really? That's excellent! When do you think I can go see it?" Harry asked his excited little servant.

"Yous could be going right now to see it sir, right now. I will take you!" By now the elf was jumping up and down in excitement.

It was still early so there would be plenty of time to visit the house. "Sure let's go Twink. But how can you take me?"

"Just hold onto my arm master Potter sir." The elf held out his arm and Harry grabbed on. With a pop the two were no longer in the room at the Leaky Cauldron, but standing outside of a small two floor modest looking house. It was a plain white color on the outside and the door was green. Perhaps the most eye catching thing about it was the silver knocker on the door. It shone dimly in the setting sun, and seemed to light up the eyes of the serpent. It was finely crafted and every scale on the snake could be clearly felt and seen. The interior looked brand new. Everything was spotless and in place. Upon first entering Harry found himself facing a staircase directly in front of him, with a small hall next to it, and a door to his left and right. He could see what appeared to be a kitchen at the end of the hallway, and decided to ignore that, as Twink would be doing all the cooking anyway.

He opened the door to the left first, and found an empty room. The floor was wood paneling, and the walls appeared to be stone.

"Umm, Twink, what exactly is this room for?" Harry asked the elf with all his confusion evident.

"This is a practicing room for you master Potter sir. Twink was thinking you would need an area to try your spells and such. Oh noes, was Twink wrong? I'm sorry master, bad Twink should be punished!" Harry tried to stop him but was just a tad bit late as Twink promptly smashed his head against the stone wall.

"Stop! I'm not upset, this is great! It will come in quite handy, thank you Twink. Now come on, show me the rest of the house."

The room to the right turned out to be a living room. In it were two medium sized couches, both of them were green with silver trimming. The floor was stones, but in the center there was a rug that spread out under the legs of the table there. At the end of one couch sat a small end table. The most prominent feature of the room was the fireplace. It was almost an exact model of the one in the Slytherin common room. In fact, Harry noticed after a second glance that the whole room was a scaled down version of the common room at Hogwarts.

The only other room downstairs was a small area with a dining table and a few chairs. Presumably this is where he would be eating his meals. On the way upstairs Twink spoke up in a nervous voice.

"I has only finished the bedroom up here, Twink wasn't sure what to make the other rooms into, please don't be mad sir." Harry assured his worried elf that it was quite alright. The bedroom was to the left and not very large, it was only a little bigger than the dining area. It had one large bed in the middle of the room, his trunk lay at the foot of the bed (apparently Twink had taken the liberty of brining his stuff here), Hedwig's perch was next to the only window in the room, and there was one door that led to the bathroom.

Overall the house was nothing extravagant or spacious, but that would work just fine as it would only be Harry living there. It wouldn't draw too much attention hopefully. He didn't need any questions as to why he was living on his own at such a young age.

By the time he finished looking around his new house it was around seven. He decided to tell Tom about the house, before going to bed, since he had a long day tomorrow. He went back upstairs to his new bedroom and opened his trunk. He pulled out the diary and a quill and began writing.

_**Tom my elf finished repairing the house I had it working on, so I am going to be staying there now. **_

_**That is good news, it could not have happened at a more perfect time either. **_

_**Why is it a perfect time?**_

_**I will tell you when I feel you need to know, until then you will not worry about it.**_

This answer didn't satisfy Harry at all, and apparently Tom knew this.

_**Yes I know this is not what you wanted to hear nor do I care. You will listen to me or I will destroy you, it is as simple as that. Do you understand? **_

Harry wanted to argue back, but he wisely bit his tongue as an image of him being controlled flashed across his mind.

_**Yes.**_

After responding Harry shut the diary, and threw it into his trunk. He wasn't sure what was going on anymore, and he was really beginning to worry. What had Tom meant by destroy him? Then he collapsed to his knees, his body was shaking and it felt like he was having fire run through his veins.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" __He let out a scream that got the attention of his house elf.

"Master Potter sir!" The elf yelled.

Then it stopped, and Harry looked up at his elf and spoke.

"Leave elf, go back downstairs and do not come back up tonight." His voice was dead, and Twink wanted to fight his orders, but could not since it came from his master's body.

As soon as the elf was gone Harry began to speak again. "You will not show me disrespect again, I decide when we are done talking. Let this be a lesson to you, do not cross me."

Just like that it was over, and Harry was back in control of his body. He was sprawled on the floor, and all he could feel was pain. None of it seemed to be subsiding and his vision began to darken.

_There were seven black cloaked figures around him. Each had their hood up and a pure white mask with two slits for the eyes. A few had their wands aimed at him, but most just seemed to be relaxed and watching him. His right arm was in excruciating pain, and he couldn't move it. Very slowly he stood up and took everything in. He had his wand in his left hand, his robes were torn, and his face was bleeding. Yet he couldn't remember how it happened. Had he been in a fight? Two of the figures in the circle parted and Tom stepped into it. _

"_Tom? What's going here?" Harry practically yelled at the boy. _

"_Don't worry Harry, someday you'll get the chance to join my most worthy of followers, but for now you will just have to endure and persevere, or die." Tom pointed his wand at Harry and then a sickly yellow light flew at him. _

Harry sat upright so fast it made him dizzy, and it was made worse by a squeak of fear. Once the world stopped spinning Harry took in his surroundings, Twink was a few feet away with a rag in his hand.

"Twink? What are you doing here, and what's that rag for?"

" You was shaking and sweating, so I had a rag for yous head."

"Thank you Twink, that was very thoughtful, but I'm fine really. Just a strange dream. What time is it?"

" It's a little after nine o clock master Potter sir. Would you be liking some breakfast now?"

Glad that he wasn't late to meet Daphne, Harry told his elf that breakfast would be wonderful, but he was going to take a shower first. Twink told him it was no problem, the food would be ready when he was done. So an hour later, Harry was showered and had eaten his breakfast. It was a few minutes after ten, that left two hours before he had to be at the Leaky Cauldron. He decided to practice his wandless magic for a while to pass some time. His wandless disarming spell was getting stronger and stronger every time he practiced it. At the pace he was going it should only be a few more days before it was up to par with the one he could cast using a wand.

It was almost eleven, and having nothing else to do Harry got ready to go to the Leaky Cauldron. He decided to take the diary with him when he left. He had had just about enough of whatever Tom was doing, and he was going to get rid of the diary. Part of him was sad that he would no longer have someone to teach him, but he knew it was for the best, he didn't want to be a servant to anyone. With only twenty minutes to go before he was supposed to meet Daphne, Harry asked Twink to take him back to the Leaky Cauldron. Twink was happy to help and in a few seconds they were no longer in the house, but instead were downstairs in the dimly lit pub.

"Harry! Where were ya last night?!" You missed supper and I went up to check on you, but the room was empty." Tom had seen Harry and come right over to question him.

In his excitement over having a home Harry forgot to tell Tom he would no longer be staying in the little room upstairs.

"Oh! Sorry Tom, didn't mean to worry you, I have an actual house now, so I will be staying there from now on."

"Oh ok, no worries mister Potter. You're all paid up on the room so that's fine. Hope you enjoyed your stay. If you ever need a room in the future just let me know. " The friendly bar owner told him.

Harry thanked him, and then went and sat down at one of the stools up by the counter while he waited. He didn't have t long of a wait it turned out, because ten minutes later Daphne walked through the door followed by a woman Harry presumed was her mother. The two looked very similar and would have been identical had they been the same age. It didn't take long for Daphne to notice Harry, and she made her way over to him. Before Harry could say anything, she hugged him.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" She said cheerfully.

This caught Harry off guard completely. Normally she would be very reserved and not show much affection, even in private let alone out in the public. It seemed Mrs. Greengrass was shocked by her daughter as well.

"Daphne, what are you doing? That is no way for a pureblood heiress to act in public." Her mother berated her.

Daphne quickly let go once her mother started talking, and looked down at her feet embarrassed. She was starting to blush and Harry might have teased her about it except for the fact that her mother was right there.

"Sorry mother, I was just excited to see Harry and I forgot myself." Daphne apologized.

Her mother sighed before responding, "I'll excuse it this time since it is your first. Next time you will be punished though. Now, who is your friend here? Harry you said his name was?"

Harry spoke up now, "Hello Mrs. Greengrass, I'm Harry Potter."

"Potter? And how exactly did a Potter come to be friends with my daughter, a Slytherin." Mrs. Greengrass seemed skeptical.

"Well ma'am I'm also in Slytherin."

Shock was evident on the older woman's face, but only for a moment. She quickly composed herself. "My my, that is a surprise to hear. Who am I to judge though, I'm sure you must have been sorted there for a reason. Well Harry, although I have a sneaking suspicion you already know, Daphne and I are going shopping for school supplies. Would you care to join us?"

Harry accepted the invitation and thanked Mrs. Greengrass. The three of them made their way across the pub and out the back entrance into the Alley. Harry and Daphne walked a little behind her mother chatting idly about the classes for the coming year and what they wanted to learn. Mrs. Greengrass would occasionally interject with something about when she went to Hogwarts, but for the most part seemed content to just listen to the two.

The first stop was the robe store . Daphne had grown a little and some of her robes were too short so she would need new ones. Since Harry had just bought his he sat with Mrs. Greengrass and watched as the magical tape measure took all of Daphne's measurements. It didn't take too long to get all the robes Daphne would need, and they were soon on their way to the next shop. They stopped at the apothecary to pick up what they would need for Potions, and both got a few extras of each ingredient just in case of a mistake. They went to the counter and paid the man, and then went back outside to meet Daphne's mother. She hadn't gone in because she did not like the smell and said it made her dizzy.

The book store was next, and it seemed like almost the entire book list was written by some guy named Lockhart. When Harry asked who he was, both Daphne and her mother looked at him like he was an idiot.

"You've never heard of Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry?! He is like the biggest celebrity in the Wizarding world. Almost every girl has a crush on him. He claims to have done many amazing things, but my mother and father both say he is a fraud." Daphne explained.

"That's because he is, no man could have done all the things that man claims to have done, and still care so much about his appearance. Besides, if you had read the books you would see there are many time discrepancies. I think he claimed to have fought Vampire's in Transylvania the same time he was fighting Werewolves in Albania. Which even for a wizard is not physically possible." Mrs. Greengrass told them.

Once they got to the bookstore Mrs. Greengrass told them not to leave and she would be back in a little while because she had a few non school related errands to run. They both agreed and went in.

It didn't take them long at all to gather all their books since most of the ones they needed were pulled up front on displays. The two really didn't have much to talk about so they spent the time in a comfortable silence. Ten minutes passed and the two were in a section of books towards the back of the store and finally Daphne spoke up.

"Oh Harry, I have to give you your gift!"

"Gift? What for?" Harry was confused.

"It's your birthday! Now close your eyes, it isn't wrapped and I want you to be surprised." Daphne ordered him.

Harry did as he was told and waited. And then he felt something soft touch his lips. He opened his eyes to see Daphne's face. She had kissed him. Just as quick as it happened she stopped.

Harry was speechless and all he could manage to get out was "Wow."

Daphne was blushing a little, but seemed to gain confidence from the fact that Harry was smiling and hadn't freaked out.

"So did you like it Harry?" Daphne teased him.

Harry still was a little confused but spoke anyway, "Well I was surprised," and they shared a little laugh together at that. Then something dawned on him. "Umm Daphne, what does that make us now?"

"I was thinking about that while I was planning this. We're still friends I just don't think I'm ready for a boyfriend. We are still pretty young after all. I just wanted to let you know I was interested.

That worked for Harry and he agreed with Daphne, they were still young he had just turned twelve for Christ's sake! But at the same time it was nice knowing Daphne liked him as more than a friend. He couldn't explain it, but it gave him a comforting feeling to know that someone actually cared about him.

The two just stood there for a minute letting everything sink in. They started towards the front of the store figuring Mrs. Greengrass would be back soon. Unfortunately they ran into someone that made Harry let out a groan. The noise drew the attention of said girl and she turned to address the two of them.

"Oh hello Potter. And Daphne is it?" It appeared the girl had mellowed out a bit from the beginning of the year, but that didn't mean Harry was going to change his mind about her.

"Granger, please move out of the way." Harry didn't want to be around her any longer than he had to. Then he had an idea, and as she moved out of the way he dropped the diary into her satchel. He didn't care about what happened to her, she was just a muggleborn anyway. Tom could be her problem now. The two Slytherins went and paid for their books together. And like they had guessed Mrs. Greengrass showed up right as they had finished.

She noticed the smiles on their faces and knew instantly what the cause of it was. She still remembered her first kiss, and she had almost the same expression they did now. She wouldn't make it awkward for them by bringing it up, but if this developed into something she would just keep a closer eye on them as they got older. For now it was probably just an innocent crush.

"It's getting later and we have to be home for dinner with your father Daphne. Let's head back to the Leaky Cauldron so we can floo home." She told them.

The two children followed her down the sidewalks and into the pub. Once in there, the two Greengrass females said goodbye to Harry. Mrs. Greengrass has told him it was very nice to meet him, and Daphne had reminded him to keep writing her during the summer. Once they had both stepped into the floo and it had turned back to normal Harry called Twink and had him take him home. Harry decided this was definitely the best birthday ever.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a long day for Hermione. She had spent nearly the entire day with her parents. First they shopped for her school supplies and extra ink and quills so she could do her summer work, and then they had gone to some muggle stores to get house supplies. By the time she had gotten home she was tired, but wanted to try and start some of her work.

When she dumped her satchel onto her desk she noticed a strange, battered looking book. Curious as to what it was and how it got there Hermione began examining it. She noticed the name Tom Marvolo Riddle printed on it. She didn't know anyone by that name in her year at Hogwarts, but maybe it was an older student. When she opened it she noticed the pages were blank. _Surely if this belonged to someone there would be writing in it by no_w she thought. She was debating with herself whether or not to write on it to see if anything would happen, after all there was a name, what if there was a reason someone hadn't written on it. Or what if it was cursed.

Not for the first time Hermione wished she could use magic outside of school. Finally giving into her insatiable curiosity she wrote her name on the top of the first page. For a moment the words shone as the ink seemed to sit on top of the paper, but then they sank in and disappeared. Only to be replaced with more words.

**Who is that, and why is she important? (Tom)**

Hermione dropped the book in shock and backed away. It had just written back to her. Was that normal in the magical world? Did all diaries write back to the people who wrote in them? Should she respond, there were so many thoughts going through her mind and she couldn't sort it out. She took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. Ok, it would be rude to not answer and what harm could there be in telling the diary it was her writing.

**I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger. Who are you, and how are you writing to me? (Hermione)**

**WHAT? HOW DID YOU GET THIS BOOK?! THAT INCOMPETENT BRAT! (Tom)**

**I'm sorry! I just found this with my other books and I was trying to figure out whose it was. (Hermione)**

If anyone could have seen Tom at that moment they would have cringed from the sheer amount of hatred radiating off of him. The boy must have purposely lost the book. There was no way this girl had gotten it from him. Well, he would have to teach the boy why you do not cross Lord Voldemort.

**Do not worry; I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm not mad; I had just grown very fond of the person who had been previously writing to me. Please forgive me. (Tom)**

For her part, Hermione was still skeptical about all of this. Could it be normal that diaries in the Wizarding World wrote back to their owners? She couldn't tell if this person, or thing, was genuinely sincere, but she was feeling compelled to give him a chance.

**Okay, I'll forgive you, but may I ask who you are? (Hermione)**

**Certainly, my name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, but you may just call me Tom. (Tom)**

**But, that's the name on the book! How could you be inside of it? (Hermione)**

**I was a very powerful wizard, and I knew many things. Including ways to make it seem as though I was still alive, this is just one of them. But that is rather boring and dry; I have a question for you. Would you like to help me, I could try and teach you some magic as we go also. (Tom)**

Again Hermione was confused, but the offer of learning new things was just too much.

**Yes! That would be wonderful, but… (Hermione)**

**But what? Come now Hermione you can trust me, what is on your mind? (Tom)**

**What about the person who was previously writing to you, don't you want to go back to them? (Hermione)**

The girl seemed sad that she might lose this new source of knowledge so fast. _Excellent, she already trusts me; this will be much easier than I thought. _

**No, if he did not seek me out, I was obviously not very important to him, so now I am yours. (Tom)**

**Oh Tom! That's terrible, you seem so charming and if you could preserve yourself in a book like this, you must be smart. Why would anyone not want to have you? (Hermione)**

**You're too kind Hermione. But it is getting late I will tell you more tomorrow, and maybe I can help you with some of your magic. (Tom)**

**Okay Tom, and thank you, I hope we can become good friends, I don't have very many of those, just Neville and Ronald. (Hermione)**

Inside the book, the piece of Tom's soul was laughing. _Oh how easy this is. She was already lonely; by the way she jumped at the opportunity to learn she must be a bookworm. And then only having two good friends. She is just lonely and begging for attention. Then when you count in the compulsion charms on the book, she never stood a chance. Yes, Potter, you will pay for trying to escape me._

The summer seemed to be flying by and there were only a few days left until it would be time to get on the Hogwarts Express. Harry couldn't wait to get back. He was becoming quickly bored, and couldn't wait to see Blaise and Daphne again. He hadn't see Blaise all summer and only saw Daphne once. He really hoped things wouldn't be awkward with Daphne now, and wasn't sure if he should mentioned what happened to Blaise. He had kept in contact with both, but had taken to just talking about Blaise's trip and trivial things like that. And when he talked to Daphne he was always careful not to mention the subject. Other than that though, Harry really couldn't wait to go back.

Since he had gotten rid of Tom he had no one to teach him. The best he could do was keep going with what Tom had started teaching him. His wandless abilities were greatly improved now from what they had been. Instead of just the one spell he had been able to perform, he could now successfully cast a levitation charm, unlocking charm, disarming charm, locking charm, a minor cutting hex, and was in the process of mastering the stunning spell. He had thought the disarming charm took a lot of energy, but it was nothing compared to what he was exerting trying to cast the stunning spell. It was becoming easier, but still taxing on him.

He had also finished the book _So you want to be a Shadow?_ The book had contained a lot of useful information not only spells, but also about unordinary applications of it. An example would be using the silencing spell on an object that is falling to keep it from making a sound when it hits the floor. This however required some excellent aim as you would have to hit the falling object. In order to practice this Harry had enlisted the help of his faithful house elf Twink.

**Flashback**

"_Twink, can you levitate objects with your magic?" Harry had asked his elf._

"_Yes master Potter sir, what is you needing me to be levitating for you?" Twink was ready to go._

"_Could you get some pots and pans and levitate them, and for now just drop them one at a time, I am going to practice aiming my spells. " He had explained. With an excited nod the elf popped away. Within ten seconds he was back and the pots were already in the air. _

"_Excellent work Twink. Let's begin."_

**End Flashback**

It had been a loud week, but well worth it as his accuracy had greatly increased. He was nowhere near perfect, but when he first started he couldn't hit any and now he was hitting a little more than half.

His mind skills also were improving, albeit at a much slower pace. He wasn't sure how to go about reading memories yet as he hadn't gotten that far with Tom, and was nervous of trying it on his own. So for now it looked like his legilemency skills were at a dead end. His occlumency while not at a complete stop, had started to plateau, as he read on he found that the concepts were starting to get over his head, and grudgingly accepted he would have to wait to do more.

Despite all these setbacks he still firmly believed himself to be leaps and bounds ahead of his other classmates. He highly doubted anyone else in his year, maybe even the school, could perform wandless magic. That was one thing he wanted to keep to himself though. No sense showing people he had an advantage if he didn't have to.

As far as he knew only one person other than himself knew what he was capable of. But that thought worried him more than it comforted him. _What if Tom told Granger about my abilities?_ _What if he told her about my mentor, she could use that to get me expelled, or worse? But he would only do that if he knew I got rid of the diary on purpose, right? _He was trying to calm his nerves, but nothing was working really well. He couldn't shake the fear that Tom would tell Granger something. Then again, maybe he wouldn't even talk to her. She is a muggleborn after all, and Tom hates mugglesborns. It didn't really matter at this point. He was going to have to wait and find out by Granger's reaction to him when they got on the Express. The most he could hope for was she wouldn't make a giant scene and would at least come to him in private.

"Tempus" he said. A green mist came out of the tip of his wand and floated in circles for a few seconds before numbers appeared in it. It was 1:54 in the afternoon and Harry was still lying in bed. He just did not feel like doing anything. And he might have accomplished that by sleeping the whole day away, if it weren't for a certain demon owl. He had just started to drift back to sleep when the damn creature came tapping at the window. With a sigh Harry rolled over and waved his hand in the direction of the window while thinking _Wingardium Leviosa_. He raised up the window enough for the bird to fit through and then closed it once she had flown in. Thinking that was all he rolled back over and got comfortable, only to have Hedwig start hooting at him.

"What do you want now?" Harry grumbled at it, and then he saw the empty food bowl, "you just were out for hours, you should have gone hunting now leave me alone."

This turned out to be the wrong answer as the hooting just got louder. Giving up after five minutes of trying to use a pillow to block out the sound Harry crawled to the end of his bed and opened his trunk. Once he got the owl treats out he levitated them towards her dish. This apparently upset the owl because she flew at the bag and collided with it. This resulted in owl treats going everywhere, and Harry letting out a scream of frustration.

"That's it! You can eat them off the floor for all I care!" And before the bird could react Harry left the room and closed the door behind him. As he was half way down the stair case he realized he didn't have his wand. He had taken it out of the holster when he slept afraid it might break if he slept with it on.

"Oh no." Resigned to his fate Harry trudged back up the stairs and stood outside of the door. He started to open the door slowly, but then he heard the flapping of wings and rustling of feathers and threw the door open. He rushed in and ducked as a dive bombing owl aimed for his head. He army crawled as fast as he could to where he had left his wand, as he grabbed it Hedwig dived at him again. Thinking fast he rolled under the bed to avoid being hit in the stomach.

It seemed like this would be a good time to try out one of those spells he had learned from the shadow book. It was the disillusionment charm, and when he cast it he would blend with his surroundings. Not be completely invisible but as long he didn't move too fast he should be able to escape the wrath of his owl. Silently casting it on himself he shuttered when it felt like an egg had just been broken over his head. He tucked his wand back into his holster, and then used his arms to slowly pull himself out from under the bed. Like earlier he began an army crawl across the room. It was roughly 8 feet to the door, and it looked like his planning was working out amazingly. A little over five minutes later he was through the door and to safety. He stood up and slammed the door shut. He cancelled the charm and began taunting the bird through the door. That's when he heard the flapping behind him. He turned around in time to see the blur of white collide with his head an knock him back into the door. And then everything went black.

When Harry woke up he had a massive headache. It must have been pretty late because the house was completely dark. That ruddy bird was going to get it one day. Right now though he just wanted to go back to sleep and didn't even have the energy to get to bed. He just layed himself down in the hallway and closed his eyes for the night.

It was September first and that meant it was finally time to go back to Hogwarts. Harry had already finished packing the night before, but he was excited and hadn't been able to sleep late. After he had finished his breakfast it was about ten o clock which meant he had about one hour before the train left. He wanted to avoid big crowds though and decided to go now, and that way he could reserve a cabin somewhere in the back.

"Twink!" Harry called out.

"Is you ready to be going sir?" The house elf asked respectfully.

"Yes I am, could you take me to King's Cross station please? "

"Certainlys master Potter, just hold on to my arm." The elf told him.

Harry did as he was told, and then with a pop the two were gone. A second later they were standing in an alley right outside of the station.

"Thank you very much Twink. Take good care of the house while I'm away. I'll check in to make sure you are okay every now and then." Harry said goodbye to his servant and began walking inside. He was really earlier and in no rush to get to the platform, so he just strolled along. By the time he got there, it was about quarter after ten. Standing there with an owl in a cage was a boy with brown hair. He looked confused and lost. _Muggleborn _Harry thought. He didn't really want to talk to the boy so he just pushed past and walked briskly at the barrier with his luggage and then he was met with the site of the giant red train. A few seconds after he had gone through the boy came rushing through the barrier and almost ran into him because he was going so fast.

"Hey! Watch where you're going! "Harry yelled at the boy. The boy didn't say anything but just walked quickly away over towards two people, presumably his parents. _Stupid muggleborns, thank God Professor Quirrell rescued me from being like that._ Professor Quirrell. Harry hadn't thought about him since the beginning of the summer, his mentor was gone, and someone new would have to teach the class. Hopefully they were competent, Harry would not be able to stand Defense if the teacher was bad and he wasn't getting extra lessons.

Harry walked towards the luggage cart and loaded his stuff up, he had decided against taking Hedwig in a cage when the bird had clawed his arm for even suggesting it. She would just fly there and sty in the owlry. Once he was finished with that he went to the back of the train and picked out a compartment to sit in. He had brought a book with him to read while he waited for his friends to get there. About fifteen minutes had passed and then Harry was pulled from his reading by the sound of the door being opened.

"Harry!" Daphne rushed in and he grabbed her around the waist as she hugged him and then gave him a peck on the lips.

"Excited to see me Daph?" Harry smiled and laughed at his friend's reaction to seeing him. He felt slightly better that she had acted like that though, at least it wasn't awkward now. "I don't think your mother would approve of such behavior from you." He shook his finger at her mockingly.

"But she isn't here now, and I know you enjoyed it!" She shot back at him. Harry couldn't deny it so he let it go. Daphne took a seat next to Harry and the two talked about anything they could think of just so it wouldn't be silent. Just as it looked like they were going to run out of things to talk about Blaise walked in. He looked upset and Harry asked him about it.

"Do you know how long I've been going up and down this train looking for you two?! Why would you pick a compartment somewhere up front where I started, right?" Blaise explained.

"Oh you'll get over it; you needed the exercise anyway after you vacationed all summer!" Daphne told him.

"Hey! It wasn't all summer! Just most of it…" he trailed off.

"Well, how was it Blaise? You were in France to visit your relatives right?" Harry asked him hoping to get a conversation going.

It worked and Blaise began to tell them all about his trip, he launched into the story and they all got so into it that no one noticed the train had left the station. Apparently Blaise's family was originally from France, but his parents had moved to Britain after they got married. His grandparents were still in France though and every summer they went and spent a month sometimes more, at their family manor there. The manor was located near the French Academy of Magic. It was called Beauxbatons, and according to Blaise it was an all witches school.

It wasn't just Blaise and his parents at the manor though; it was all of his relatives on his father's side. So Blaise had some company from his cousins, but he said he wished he could have seen Daphne and Harry. Once Blaise had finished telling about his vacation he asked Harry if he wanted to play a game of wizard's chess. Having nothing else to talk about Harry agreed. Blaise got the board out and set it up between the two of them. As they played Daphne cheered on the pieces when they smashed one another. After a while Harry was getting beat so bad that she took to criticizing him instead of cheering.

"If I'm so bad why don't you try then?" Harry asked her.

"Fine I will, move over." And she pushed him out of the way without waiting for him to move. Harry tried to protest but Blaise and Daphne were already playing and he was ignored.

Having nothing else to do Harry took over Daphne's job and cheered the pieces on. After three games, Blaise won two and Daphne won one, the group grew bored of the game and they put it away. No one seemed to have anything to say so Harry asked a question.

"Do either of you know who the new Defense teacher is going to be?"

"Not a clue, but whoever it is must really love that Lockhart guy; I can't believe we had to buy his entire set of books. My parents say it's all just rubbish and half-truths in there." Blaise told the group.

Daphne agreed with Blaise, and said her parents had told her almost the same thing. The two of the then got into discussion about some of the barmy things they had been told were in there. Harry wasn't particularly interested and had picked up his book and begun reading. It was the book on Dark Lords he had picked up before his first year, and he had never had a chance to finish reading it. The one he was currently reading about had started very young. The book said he was suspected of murder even while he was attending magical school, but it was never proved. He hadn't been terribly successful though as it turned out. He had done enough to be considered a Dark Lord, but compared to some of the others he was nothing. Despite that though, Harry found him to be very intriguing. He was smart enough, and powerful enough to hide a murder while at school under the watch of professors and a headmaster. The work that went into planning it must have been incredible.

As he read, Harry found himself mentally hoping he would someday have that kind of magical ability, as well as intelligence. No one would dare try and harm him or disagree with him. Professor Quirrell had said no Dark Arts until third year, and he intended to obey that, but the draw to attempt them sooner was pretty strong.

For the next half an hour or so things past relatively peacefully in the compartment. Blaise had said he was going to take a nap and was now lying across the seats on the other side. Daphne too had said she was tired, but waited until Blaise fell asleep and then she leaned her head against Harry's shoulder. Harry for his part took it in stride, but he wasn't sure he was comfortable keeping this change from Blaise and he voiced his thought to Daphne.

"I know Harry, but I'm not sure how he would take it, I mean I don't want him to feel like a third wheel. Besides we aren't even dating so it's not a big deal, right? If he notices and asks we'll tell him." She said to him.

Harry was still uneasy about keeping this from his first real friend, and decided he was going to mention something about it once they were back in their dorms. He hoped Blaise wouldn't have a problem with it, and since nothing was really happening he was sure he wouldn't but part of him was still nervous.

A few minutes later a very unwelcome face emerged through their compartment door.

"Granger. What do you want?" Harry asked, but at the same time he was looking for any signs of Tom.

"Potter, I wanted to know if I could talk to you alone for a minute." Hermione said somewhat sadly.

Harry was nervous, but he shared a look with Blaise and Daphne to let them know not to worry, and then walked out shutting the door behind him. He followed Granger further down the narrow hallway to an abandoned compartment. Once inside she flicked her wand casually and a spell hit the door which made a clicking sound as it locked.

"Hello Harry, it's been a while." Hermione said.

"Hello Tom." Harry was tense now and had his hand ready to throw a disarming spell if necessary.

"You must relax Harry; I'm not going to hurt you, because I have a better use for you."

"And why would I do anything for you Tom? I tried to get rid of you remember?" Harry shot back at him.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, you'll either help me or Dumbledore will find out you were taking lessons from the Dark Lord." Hermione taunted.

A shiver rolled through Harry's body, his fear had just become reality. Tom was going to hold that over him until he got what he wanted. "What do I have to do?" He managed to get out through clenched teeth.

"Excellent, I knew you would agree, but I can't tell you now. Tonight after everyone has gone to their dorms meet me in the second floor girl's bathroom. Do not question it." He threw in the last part as Harry opened his mouth to protest. "It's been lovely talking to you Harry, but really I must get back to my friends, they might begin to wonder what's happened to me." With that said Hermione left the compartment.

Harry made his way back to his compartment, anger clearly visible across his face. When he threw the doors open and they slammed so hard that they broke he didn't even think twice before flicking his wand at them and thinking reparo. He sat down and immediately his friends asked what was wrong.

All he said was, "Granger."

Blaise tried to console him, and tell him not to worry about what she thought or said but none of it worked. Daphne took a different approach all together though. She offered to go hunt down the muggleborn and curse her into oblivion. She even went so far as to describe exactly how she would do it to inflict the most pain. Both Harry and Blaise cringed audibly as she was doing this and made a mental note not to cross Daphne, ever. Harry thanked both of them, but told them not to worry about it. He just needed to blow off some steam.

Blaise looked skeptical but accepted it, and Daphne nodded but looked like she still wanted to curse Granger. The rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful, Malfoy and his group of Slytherins had come by once, but hadn't said much or done anything, only pausing to give a slight nod of acknowledgment and then continuing along. Longbottom and Weasley had stopped by and been their pompous selves again. They had even gone so far as to threaten Harry and Blaise if they went near Weasley's sister. As if they would go after her to begin with. When it came to intimidation those two were definitely lacking. Harry and Blaise had played along though just to get the two away from their compartment as fast as possible though.

When the train conductor announced there was only 5 minutes to arrival the three of them got their robes out of the luggage, and changed into them. At first Harry was surprised Daphne stayed in the compartment with them, but she had shrugged it off saying it wasn't like she was naked or anything. Finally the train slowed and came to a halt. As students were getting off the train, Blaise spoke to Harry.

"Harry you didn't have anyone to tell you, but only first years take the boats. As second years we take carriages up to the castle."

"Okay thanks for telling me that Blaise." Harry said. Together the three unloaded their trunks from the luggage car and found a cart for themselves. The carriage seated four, but it seemed like everyone else had a place already so the three had the one they were in to themselves. Once everyone was in a carriage they started moving forward. One thing Harry did find strange was that the carriage was apparently being pulled by nothing. Harry asked his friends about it. Blaise had the answer again.

"They are being pulled by a thestral. The only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen death." He explained. That was a morbid thought and killed all conversation for the ride up to the castle.

They were in one of the last carriages and had to wait an extra five or ten minutes for all the students ahead of them to unload, so that their carriage could pull up. When they got out they started walking up towards the main doors which were standing wide open to show the brightly illuminated main hall. Professor McGonagall was standing in the entrance blocking the way though

"If you would all please leave your luggage where it is, we will have it brought to your dorms. Thank you, now please go into the Great Hall and get seated while I go to get the incoming first years." Once she had finished the Transfiguration professor hurried away to some small door on the left hand side of the main entrance hall.

Everyone seemed to just be dropping their trunks where they were, so Harry and his friends followed suit. They then proceeded to walk into the castle and head towards the Great Hall on their right. There was a large mob trying to get through the doors all at once and Harry didn't feel like being pushed and shoved around so he just sat back and waited until the throng cleared out. Once it had dispersed him, Blaise, and Daphne all entered and made their way towards the Slytherin table.

Everything in the hall was just as it had been on the first evening last year. At the head of each table was a large banner adorned with the table's house symbol. Every spot was filled at the Head Table except for McGonagall's because she was escorting the first years in. Harry immediately picked out the new teacher. It was hard to miss someone with as white of hair as this man's.

"Blaise look at the new defense teacher, does he wash his hair in bleach?" Harry joked.

Blaise looked and let out a groan, "Harry this is not a joking matter, do you know who that is?" Harry shook his head in the negative. "That is Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Wait you mean the man who wrote all those books, is our teacher? And he assigned us his own books; I can tell this is going to be a bad year already." Harry just let his head fall and hit the table. This was turning out to be one terrible evening. He couldn't even begin to remember why he had been excited to come back. It was another ten minutes before the doors to the great hall opened again. This time in two single file lines the first years were marched up the middle and made to stand before the sorting hat perched up atop its stool.

Harry was watching all the faces of the first years and he saw a lot of the same things he felt when he first saw the Great Hall. Fear, excitement, happiness, a sense of belonging in some of them even. The sorting hat opened its brim and began to sing its song. It wasn't the same as last year though. That was strange; Harry had assumed the Hat used the same song every year. Once it closed its brim McGonagall began reading off names.

It wasn't particularly interesting to watch, except for when one of the first years's tripped running to their new house. One girl did catch Harry's eye though. Her name was Luna Lovegood, and she seemed to be not all there. Even when she was walking it was like her mind was somewhere else completely. Harry assumed she would be a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff; therefore he was rightly surprised when the hat called out Ravenclaw. It seemed she was more there than she appeared; perhaps she was trying to make people underestimate her. Harry made up his mind that he would talk to her eventually.

No one else caught his attention in the sorting until one particular redhead. Her name was Ginerva Weasley. Harry was going to make sure he went out of his way to mess with her, just because Longbottom and his sidekick had told him not to. Harry gently elbowed Blaise when she went up and nodded with a slightly sadistic grin. Blaise got the message and nodded back. Daphne saw the exchange between the two and just shook her head while mumbling "boys" under her breath. Finally the sorting was over, and Dumbledore stood up to make his announcements. He introduced Lockhart to the student body, and the reaction was mixed.

It seemed that most of the girls were all for it and cheering quite wildly for him. While the guys were either booing or just scowling at the man. Dumbledore announced that the list of banned items would be posted on Filch's office door, and then clapped his hands. The food instantly appeared on all of the tables and people began to dig in all around. Harry remembered what he had been told about setting a good example though and made sure not to be too barbaric as he grabbed for his food. In the middle of his meal Harry made the mistake of looking up at the Gryffindor table, only to be met with the sight of some kid shoving multiple chicken slices into his mouth while talking loudly. It was quite disgusting and Harry nearly lost his appetite.

After about thirty minutes desserts began to replace the empty food trays. Twenty minutes later and dessert was finished as well, and none of the three could move. But Dumbledore insisted the sing the school song before anyone was dismissed. Once it was over and the two Weasley twins had made fools of themselves again Dumbledore told the first years to follow the prefects to their dorms. Harry already knew where his dorm was, so he decided to slip away and make his way up to the second floor. The only problem was he didn't know how he would get Daphne and Blaise not to follow. Then he had an idea. He pushed his way into the middle of the Slytherin crowd leaving and silently cast the disillusionment charm. He carefully navigated his way out of the crowd and waited up against the wall until almost everyone had filed out.

His hope was that Daphne and Blaise would just keep going thinking they had gotten pushed apart in the crowd. He slowly made his way out of the hall so as not to become noticeable by moving too fast. It took him about eight minutes to get to the second floor since he had to wait for the staircase to move back. When he came to the door of the bathroom he didn't bother knocking. He walked in and was glad to see Tom, well Hermione, was already there. He wanted this over with as fast as possible.

"I'm here, what do you want now?" Harry spoke getting right to the point.

"My my we are impatient aren't we. First Harry I want to know why you tried to get rid of me. We were getting along well weren't we?" Hermione asked in a voice not her own, this one was deeper sounding and rougher.

"No, you were making me into your servant, and I was not going to be someone's minion." Harry responded heatedly.

"Well, that backfired spectacularly didn't Harry, because you're still my servant now. " Tom laughed and it sounded so cruel and cold Harry couldn't help but get shiver a little. "Since you are so impatient, I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to open the Chamber of Secrets for me and control its monster."

"Chamber of Secrets? It's just a legend isn't it? No one has ever found it!" Harry was confused now.

"No you stupid child, it is right here, I found it when I went to school and I used it then. You speak parseltongue at this sink and it opens." Tom explained.

"If you can open it why do you need me?!" Harry was getting angry now because he had a good guess as to what Tom was planning

"Well I don't want the blame if this were to be discovered. So that way if you get caught it falls souly on your shoulders. Besides, this mudblood is not worthy of speaking the noble language. When I tell you to, you will come here and open the chamber climb down inside and find the large statue of Slytherin's head. You will look at it and say "Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Slytherin's monster will come out and you are to tell it to go out and attack a student it finds in the hallway." When Tom had finished explaining he paused to let Harry take it all in.

"Now Harry, this has been a lot and I'm sure you wish to enjoy your first night back at Hogwarts, why don't you go back to your dormitory and get some rest. " With that final sentiment Tom laughed as he left the room leaving Harry alone silently trying to figure a way out of this mess.


	9. Chapter 9

"_You're still my servant boy, but I have no more use for you. " The pale looking 16 year old raised his wand and leveled it at the boy in front of him. Despite the numerous wounds and overwhelming pain he was in Harry lifted his head to meet Tom's gaze. He had a gash straight across his stomach and blood was flowing from it. He had been under the Cruciatus twice already. Harry refused to give Tom the satisfaction of seeing him die defeated. He locked eyes with the older boy and spat at him just as Tom hissed out "Avada Kedavra". Harry watched emotionless as the sickly green light sped towards him. As it collided with him, he fell backwards into the darkness._

Harry shot upright in his bed, visions of his dream still clouding his mind. A cold sweat covered his body and his breathing was heavy. Then out of nowhere a light lit up the dorm room. "NO!" Harry yelled and sent a wandless banisher at the spot the light had come from.

Someone went flying and an audible thud could be heard as the enemy, in Harry's eyes, collided with the wall. Wasting no time, Harry grabbed his wand and leveled it in the general area he had heard the thud. The franticness could be seen in his eyes, which were almost glowing in the pitch black of the dorm room. A low groan was heard, and Harry started to send another spell towards the noise.

"Incarcer…." He began.

"Harry wait! What are you doing? It's me Blaise!" His now frightened roommate yelled.

Slowly Harry lowered his wand. He used his occlumency to clear his mind of the dream. It had seemed so real to him. Had he really just imagined all of that? _ No, that wasn't an ordinary dream_ He thought. His heart was still racing even though he had gotten himself under control. He could barely make out some murmur in the background as the blood rushed in his head and pounded at his ear drums. Without realizing it he had closed his eyes, when he opened them the sudden brightness caught him off guard. It was no longer just Blaise and himself in the room either. The seventh year prefect, Marcus Flint, was now in their room as well and he had his wand out and appeared to be yelling something.

Harry wondered how the boy had even gotten to be a prefect. As far as intelligence went, a rock was probably smarter than Flint. As well as being a prefect Flint was also the Slytherin quidditch captain. Although Harry suspected he was only captain because he would do anything to win. And that meant literally anything, from cursing other players in the hall to kicking people off the team if someone better came along. It was well known that Professor Snape was a very competitive person and it was only natural he would assign someone like Flint to captain to insure that his house won. And besides, Slytherins are supposed to be ambitious. Other than that there really wasn't anything significant about Flint. His parents were followers of Voldemort in the war, but they weren't very prominent politically and they lacked money. Harry suddenly caught site of Flint staring at him looking murderous.

"What?" Harry asked him, having not been paying attention to what the boy had been shouting.

"I asked you what the hell happened here Potter, now answer me or I'm going to curse you and then get Professor Snape to sort this out!" The boy was still yelling which was starting to give Harry a headache.

"First, stop yelling, it's bothering me. Second, we were just having an argument and I threw a spell at Blaise and he fell backwards into the wall. It's over now and we're both fine. So if you could kindly leave the room so we can go back to sleep. "Harry told the prefect in a tone that just served to piss Flint off more.

The older boy was grinding his teeth in anger now. "Watch how you talk to me Potter. I can make your life a living hell if you don't show me the respect I deserve. You're not even a pureblood, so don't you talk back to me you filthy halfblood." As the boy finished his rant and stalked out he failed to notice the glare Harry gave him that promised nothing but pain in the future.

It wasn't until his heart returned to normal that Harry started to feel the pain. His muscles were on fire, and his stomach felt like it had been torn open and sewn back together. _Definitely not just a dream, He thought._

Once Blaise was sure that Flint was gone he spoke up. "Harry, what the hell just happened?"

Harry looked at Blaise who had a somewhat fearful expression on his face, but there were traces of concern in it as well. Not exactly knowing how to explain what had happened he settled for a half truth. "It was a bad dream, you just caught me off guard when you cast a spell and I reacted, sorry about that, you're okay right?" Harry wanted to make sure he hadn't injured his first real friend.

"Yeah I'm fine, but are you sure it was just a bad dream? The look in your eyes, well it looked like you were actually angry at me, I thought I was done for." Blaise admitted.

"Yeah it was just a dream Blaise. Now we should try and get some sleep, we do have classes in a few hours after all." Harry tried to end it there, but Blaise had one last question for him.

"Okay, but Harry, did you cast that banisher wandlessly? I could see your shadow and it didn't look like you grabbed anything at all."

_Damn, Harry thought. I had hoped he wouldn't notice. _Thinking quickly Harry came up with something. "No I had my wand under my pillow and I grabbed it when I woke up. It was already in my hand which is why you didn't see me move. Now goodnight Blaise." With that said Harry laid back in his bed and pulled the blankets over himself, as he closed his eyes he began praying there would be no more dreams like that.

Harry, Blaise, and Daphne were sitting at lunch the next morning eating in silence, until Daphne noticed Blaise wince when he reached for some more sausage.

"Blaise, what's wrong? Are you okay?" She asked with the smallest hint of concern in her voice.

"It's nothing. I just had a bit of a rough night is all." As he said this he gave a small sideways glance at Harry, which didn't go unnoticed by Daphne.

"What do you mean "rough night"?" She asked curiously.

Seeing that Blaise was hesitating to answer her Harry spoke up for the first time.

"It's my fault."

Daphne looked at him shocked, "Your fault? What happened? Did you two get in a fight?" There was an unhidden disappointment in her tone.

"No, I had a bad dream and I woke Blaise up with all my thrashing about. When he casted a lumos spell to see what was going on I freaked and banished him into the dorm wall." Harry admitted sheepishly.

"Well that's better than you two getting in a fight. But may I ask you what the dream was about Harry? It must have been pretty bad if it caused you to freak out. You're always in control of your emotions. "Daphne was no longer hiding her concern; she was clearly worried about what could be so bad as to have affected him the way that dream had.

Not feeling like explaining it Harry just shrugged and changed the subject. "So are you two ready for another wonderful class of Potions with the Gryffindors?"

Seeing that Harry didn't want to talk about it his friends let it go, but one look at Daphne and he knew he hadn't heard the end of this. "Yeah but it shouldn't be too bad, I mean we're Slytherins Harry, it's not like we get yelled at."

Harry gave a snort of laughter, "Its not getting yelled at I'm worried about, its being in the same room as Longbottom and a cauldron." This caused all three and a few people around who had heard the comment to break out laughing. The rest of breakfast was passed by making jokes at the expense of Longbottom and his worshippers. To the surprise of the three even Malfoy had made a joke or two that was actually funny.

In a group the Slytherin second years left the Great Hall and headed towards the dungeons. They had to prevent a united front to the rest of the school otherwise the other houses would tear them apart. About half way to the Potions classroom Malfoy spoke to Harry.

"Potter, I know we didn't get off to a great start, but I'm willing to look past blood in this case because it's obvious you're powerful. I think we should be friendly towards each other from now on. We obviously have our own separate circles of people we associate with, but that doesn't mean we can't be allies. So what do you say Potter?" He held out his hand and Harry looked at it for a few seconds. Then he reached out and shook hands with the young pureblood.

"It's a deal Malfoy, after all the rest of the school already hates us, so it'll be nice to know we have others out there watching our backs." Everyone else in the group who had seen the exchange was shocked for a moment. Never before had a Potter and a Malfoy been in an alliance. After they got over the shock of what had just happened everyone seemed to follow the lead and talk to people they normally wouldn't.

By the time they had reached the classroom everyone was in full discussion. Talking about everything from classes, to families, to what they had for breakfast. When they arrived they were still 10 minutes early, the door was open however so they strode in and took their seats. After all none of them wanted to be paired with one of the incompetent Gryffindors. Blaise sat with Malfoy while Harry sat with Daphne. This caused Blaise to shoot Harry a weird glance, even though Harry sat with Daphne in Transfiguration he always sat with Blaise in Potions. Over the next ten minutes the rest of the class began to walk in and take their seats. Professor Snape came out of the back of the room just as class was scheduled to begin, and in his normal manner with his cloak flowing behind him he strode to the front of the room as the door slammed shut.

"Good morning class. Please take out your…" He paused and looked at the class. "Where are Longbottom and his faithful pet Weasel?" He was starting to get impatient when no one answered. Just when it looked like he was going to start yelling the door creaked open and Weasley and Longbottom came in. The boy-who-lived strode confidently in and took his seat acting like he hadn't just walked in late.

"So nice of you to join us Longbottom. Class please all give a round of applause for our celebrity, he managed to find his way to class, and was only 2 minutes late. " At this Snape pretended to clap his hands together and the Slytherins snickered. "That will be 15 points from Gryffindor and a detention with me tonight Weasley and Longbottom. Now if you're done interrupting my class open your book and begin reading page 76. "Longbottom looked like he wanted to say something back, but a sharp kick from the mudblood Granger kept him from opening his mouth. _What a shame, Harry thought; I could have used another good laugh at the boy wonder's expense._

It turned out that they would be brewing the Deflating Draught that day. The antidote was relatively simple, and took Harry and Daphne no time at all to brew. Each of them bottled up a small sample and brought it up to Professor Snape for grading. He was impressed with how well it had come out and gave them both 10 points and a passing grade. When they got back to their cauldron each took a few more samples, it never hurt to have a supply of potions around just in case. They were the first group done followed closely by Malfoy and Blaise. Snape awarded another 10 points each to both of them for an outstanding potion. Granger was the next one done. It seemed like not even her own housemates liked her as she always worked alone. When she showed it to Snape he scowled and told her it was mediocre work and just enough to pass. Harry smirked as he saw Granger visibly deflate from the comment.

Just when Harry thought it couldn't get any better Longbottom flipped out. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN MEDIOCRE? HERMIONE'S POTION IS BETTER THAN THAT SLIMY GIT MALFOY'S AND YOU GAVE HIM POINTS!"

"MR. LONGBOTTOM!" Snape roared. "That will be 50 points for yelling at a Professor and another 50 points for disrupting the rest of the class, also you will now have 3 more detentions with me. " Snape smiled viciously as he finished saying the last part.

Longbottom sat back down, visibly fuming muttering to himself about how he was going to go to McGonagall and Dumbledore about this.

The rest of the class was comparably uneventful. To Harry's and the rest of Slytherin's relief no cauldrons exploded this time. In lunch they spent their time reenacting the scene of Longbottom yelling. And told the older years what had happened. All of them got a good laugh at it. They were trying to guess what their head of house would make Longbottom do at the detentions. A fourth year by the name of Miles Bletchley suggested he would have to clean the entire dungeons by hand. A troll looking girl in Harry's year by the name of Millicent Bulstrode said that he would make him write lines over and over until he couldn't anymore.

Whatever the punishment was going to be, it was agreed on by all that it was well earned. No one yelled at their head of house and got away with it. Speculation for the next class was a big topic on the way to the defense room. Actually it wasn't so much speculation about that class as to when Lockhart would mess up and show how much of a fake he was.

As it turned out it they didn't have to wait long at all. The first thing Lockhart did was give out a test, that was all about himself. It was a joke, questions about Lockhart's favorite color and scent, or his favorite food. Harry couldn't stop himself from answering in the most horrible way possible. When the man took the test back and began reading through the answers he visibly cringed, and occasionally frowned.

"It seems only a few of you actually read my books. That's such a shame; if you had done your reading you would have easily known that my favorite activity is washing my hair." He sighed and went over to his desk where a large covered cage was. "Now let's begin, I'm going to release these from their cage and show you how to properly stop a target from moving." Harry got ready to leave as soon as he saw that the cage was packed with pixies. This turned out to be the right idea as the spell Lockhart used, didn't work. The Slytherins and most of the Gryffindors left the classroom, but not before they saw a pixie grab Weasley's wand and snap it in half.

Once safely outside the room Malfoy began to rant. "My father will hear about this! We could have had our stuff damaged or been hurt by those blasted pixies. That man is a moron!" After a minute or two of the same stuff Harry just tuned him out. He grudgingly admitted that Malfoy was right though. That dunderhead Lockhart could have gotten them injured badly. Honestly he just released a cage of angry pixies into the room like it was no big deal. That's when Harry got an idea.

"Hold on Malfoy, I have a better idea. What if we tell Professor Snape about what happened? Surely he could do something about the class; maybe Dumbledore would let him teach it instead." When he had finished explaining his idea, a bunch of people nodded their head. It was well known that their head of house envied the position of defense teacher. He had been after it for years, but for some reason had always been turned down.

"That's a good idea Potter, I'll tell Professor Snape tonight after dinner. He is my godfather after all. And naturally he will want to ensure that his godson is safe." It seemed like the fact that Snape was Malfoy's godfather was known to everyone, but Harry, as no one else reacted to that bit of information.

"Okay then its set. Now, did anyone else see the look on Weasley's face when the pixie snapped his wand?" Harry asked. This sent the whole group into laughter, and the rest of the walk back to the Common Room was spent making fun of Weasley and coming up with ideas of what he was going to do now. After all he needed a wand to perform magic, and most of the people doubted he would be able to afford a new one. Harry didn't get what the others had meant by that at first so he had asked them to explain.

"Well you see Potter," Draco began, "not everyone in the Wizarding World has a lot of money. The Weasley's despite being purebloods are dirt poor. And muggle lovers to boot. If you ask any of the richer, purer families you'll get the same answer. The Weasley's are a shame to the Purebloods."

A quick scan of the faces of the people around him showed Harry that all of them thought the same way Malfoy did. He hadn't really payed attention to it until now, but blood really was important to his classmates. That thought brought back memories of what Flint had said. He was just a filthy half-blood. Yet Quirrell had told him he could be considered a first generation pureblood. Either way, Harry was going to make Flint pay for his comment.

Once they had all gotten in the common room Harry decided he wanted to practice some new spells he had read about. He made an excuse saying he was tired to get away from Blaise and Daphne for a while. While he liked his friends a lot, and thought he could trust them he was still a Slytherin. The less people knew about his abilities the better. "_After all," Harry thought,"people fear that which they do not know."_

His only problem came in figuring out how to get out of the common room without anyone noticing. He decided a disillusionment charm should do the trick. This worked well as he was able to quietly sneak down and across the room without anyone noticing. He stopped for a moment to observe his friends. Daphne and Blaise were sitting on a couch together. His eyes narrowed a little when he saw that Blaise had his arm around Daphne's shoulders. He wanted to drop the charm and call out his friend right then and there, but decided it wouldn't be of any benefit to make a scene in the middle of the common room.

It only took a few minutes before the entrance opened and Harry had managed to slip out unnoticed. He began walking the halls of the dungeons looking for an empty classroom he could practice in. It only took him about ten minutes to find a suitable room. There wasn't much in it, just a few old wooden desks and chairs which would make perfect targets. He figured the Professors wouldn't even know they were gone or broken anyway. Once he got in Harry cast a locking charm at the door, and used the silencing spell on the room. That way no one would hear him and come into see what he was up to.

**Professor Snape's Office**

"Those dunderhead Gryffindors are going to be the death of me. The next one to blow up a cauldron in my class will be scrubbing the floors of the entire dungeon." Snape was sitting at his desk ranting about the latest incident in his classroom. A 6th year Gryffindor had managed to mess up a simple shrinking potion so bad that the contents of his cauldron became volatile and then blew up. His ranting was interrupted however when his ward went off. No one knew, but Severus Snape had put wards on all the rooms in the dungeon so that it would alert him to any magic being performed in them. Snape began to smile as he heard the noise. How he hoped he would catch the two Weasley Twins. He had long suspected they were using the dungeons as a headquarters. He rushed out of his office and headed towards the room the wards had gone off in.

**Back to the empty classroom**

"Bombarda!" Harry shouted as he finished the circular motion of his wand. A bluish light left his wand and flew towards one of the desks. Much to Harry's frustration though when the spell collided it only managed to blow a small hole in the desk. The spell was meant to cause a small explosion when it hit something, that way the object would explode sending fragments at your enemy or whoever you happened to be dueling. Getting frustrated with his lack of success Harry began to scan the page in the book again. Once he had finished re-reading he wanted to smack himself in the head for being so stupid.

The book had said the movement was only a half circle twist. He had been doing a full circle. It was amazing how something so small could cause a spell to change effects significantly. He sent a silent reparo towards the desk to fix the previous damage he had done to it. Taking his place about fifteen feet away from his target Harry let himself focus. He cleared his mind using his Occlumency techniques. He pushed forward some memories of his time at the orphanage to fuel his intent. He wanted to make this desk explode to protect himself. He HAD to protect himself. "Bombarda!" He incanted. This time he only used a half circle like the book had said and much to his surprise the light that left his wand was ten times brighter. This time when it collided with the desk there was a cracking noise and Harry watched with fascination as the desk seemed to turn to fragments before his eyes. It splintered and pieces flung at the wall behind it.

Harry let himself smile as he admired what he had done. He was drawn out of his moment of ego boosting when someone spoke:

"Well done Mr. Potter, 15 points to Slytherin for a second year mastering a fifth year spell." Snape had gotten there just in time to see Harry cast the spell. He had watched to see what happened and felt a sense of pride for having the boy in his house once he saw the spell had worked perfectly. "But now what to do with you, after all casting spells outside of the classroom is against school rules. "

Harry bit back the comment he wanted to make about him technically being in a classroom and instead waited silently for Snape to tell him what his punishment would be.


	10. Chapter 10

Harry stood watching his head of house for any sign of annoyance or hostility, but to his surprise he could detect no traces of ill intent towards him. Since almost a full minute had gone by, Harry decided to try and get an idea of what Professor Snape was thinking. With a silent _legilems_ he entered his Professor's mind. Except he received a shock when he was violently thrown out before he could gather anything. Snape spoke up now.

"Trying to read my mind Potter? Normally I would be mad, but for one who is only a second year to not only know what the mind arts are, but be able to cast one successfully let alone silently has saved you from punishment. Follow me to my office, do not speak until we get inside and I have closed the door." Once he had finished saying this Snape turned on his heel and strode out of the door with his robes billowing behind him in his signature way.

Unsure of what was going to happen now, and slightly dizzy from his recent ejection from his Professor's mind Harry was slightly on guard as he followed closely behind his head. It's hard to tell the time of day deep in the dungeon, and Harry wondered how long he had been practicing. It couldn't have been to long he supposed. But he knew that sometimes he got caught up in his practicing and studying. Since he wasn't allowed to talk he let his mind wander back to one of his sessions with his Defense teacher last year.

_Professor Quirrell watched him as he cast spell after spell at the objects that had been animated to move around the room. As spell after spell connected with the objects he became relaxed and let his spell casting slow slightly. He was bored with the exercise and wanted to just finish and move on. He was about to turn to ask his mentor to let him stop when his world exploded in pain. His vision went black temporarily and all he could focus on was the needling sensation in the right side of his torso. A sudden wet warmth let him know that he was bleeding. He forced himself to fight through the pain and look around for his attacker. When he turned his head left it was just in time to see a chair come flying at him and collide with his head. He was ready to give way and let unconsciouness claim him, but it was not to be as he heard his mentor's voice "Enervate" and a spell collided with him and suddenly he was fully aware again. Lying on his back the cold stone floor helped to ease some of his pain. _

"_You became lazy, you thought you had everything figured out. If you had been in a fight that would have cost you your life. Think about that next time you see it fit to go easy during one of our sessions. You must always be aware of your surroundings. Now I will heal you and you will start again. "_

As his memory ended Harry cursed himself silently, he had just lost focus and could have been attacked at any time. He needed to learn to keep his memories in check. He had reached the potions classroom now and walked through the door. His head of house was already seated at the desk in the front of the room.

"Shut the door behind you Mr. Potter then come up here."

Harry did as he was told and came to a stop a few feet in front of the desk.

"So tell me Mr. Potter how is it you came across the mind arts?" It seemed the man was going to waste no time. At seeing Harry hesitating to answer he silently applauded the boy for his Slytherin quality, "do not worry, as your head of house I am simply curious as to how one of my students has become so far advanced without my knowing. I will tell none of what you say to anyone else."

Still unsure if the man would keep his word Harry decided to give him partial truths, "I spent the summer in a room in Diagon Alley, sir. I spent a lot of time in the book store reading about different things." It wasn't a complete lie, but that way he didn't have to tell him about the diary. Or so he thought.

"I applaud your attempt to conceal the truth Mr. Potter, but I have been in that store often enough to know that there is no book in there that teaches how to invade someone's mind. Now how about the truth?" He had his hands folded and was peering over then waiting patiently for the young student to tell him the truth. He watched as the boy tried to think of something else to tell him.

At this point Harry was rushing through his mind. He was trying to figure out what to do now. It seemed he had only one way out. He had to tell Professor Snape about the diary. Without revealing too much about what he learned from Tom he began to tell about the diary and what had happened. As Harry told his tale his head of house got paler and paler with every passing minute. He stopped listening about half way through and thought back to a meeting he had been called to during the war.

_Severus Snape was young and skilled. He had wanted nothing more than to be powerful, like so many before him, his obsession with power had driven him to join the Dark Lord. That is why he was now standing in a meeting room among many others watching as their Lord called forward his most trusted. He was presenting them with items to guard. He had just given the LeStranges the Cup of Hufflepuff and told them to guard it with their life. "Lucius," the voice of their Lord hissed out like a snake, "come forward and receive the item I have for you." Severus watched as the man stepped forward, he hadn't been too interested in the previous, but Lucius was a friend of his. He watched on as the man was presented with a journal, which their lord went on to explain contained his memories and wisdom. _

Harry had finished his tale and was now observing his Head, who looked as though he was reliving some horrible memory. He knew the man had stopped paying attention long ago as he seemed to gaze right through him. Finally the man snapped out of his stupor and addressed Harry.

"Mr. Potter, this is very important, do you know who Tom Riddle is?" Snape seemed to be trying to see into his soul as he stared Harry directly in the eyes.

Harry had left out the part about Tom explaining he was Voldemort to avoid answering why he would accept lessons from a dark lord. "No sir, why?" Harry lied smoothly to the man, and subtly brought up his mind shields hoping his teacher would not probe his mind.

Seemingly satisfied with the answer his professor explained, "Tom Riddle is in fact the Dark Lord Voldemort. Very few know of his real name, I know only because Dumbledore has told me. "After explaining the two dropped into a silence, both digesting what they had heard, or in Harry's case pretending to be shocked and thinking over what Snape had told him.

"I have a very important task for you. The diary contains an evil spirit as you have figured out; it must not be allowed to travel in the hands of a student, or anyone. Especially not an isolated know-it-all like Granger. She may be annoying, but she is slightly talented with a wand. The diary can twist you and make you do its bidding, the last thing we need is a mini dark lord roaming the school. That is why you are going to retrieve the diary and give it to me."

"Me sir?" The fact that Snape was telling him to get the diary and not doing it himself had caught Harry off guard.

"I did not stutter Mr. Potter. You will get the diary, by any means, and bring it back to me. Are we clear?" There was a small trace of a threat in his voice and Harry decided not to push the man too far. Once he received a nod Snape continued, "Excellent, also you will be coming here twice a week at night for private lessons from me. I will not allow you to continue practicing unsupervised as something could go wrong and I do not feel like being held responsible. Do not tell anyone. Now go, I will see you here tomorrow night, and bring the diary. "Sensing a dismissal Harry walked out of the room.

He hurried back to the common room, wanting nothing more than to go to his dorms and collapse on his bed and sleep. He had so much to think about and a theft to plan out. As he walked through the hole in the wall where the bricks separated he took notice that there was no one in the common room. _It must be pretty late_ unsheathing his wand he cast a quick tempus to determine the time. His conversation with Snape had taken longer than he thought; it was now 10:54. Forgetting that he had snuck out he walked up to his dorm. He opened the door trying to be as quiet as possible figuring Blaise had gone to bed. There for he was slightly caught off guard when he was met with the tip of a wand on the back of his neck when he tried to close the door.

A few seconds later the wand was removed and a lumos was cast so that Harry could see his would be attacker. It turned out to be an irritated looking Blaise.

"Where the bloody hell have you been? And why didn't you tell Daphne and me you were leaving?" His friend questioned him with his wand tip pointed directly between his eyes.

The fact that Blaise had his wand aimed at him like he was going to hurt him made Harry angry. This was his so called friend. Shouldn't they trust each other somewhat? "I was out doing some studying; it's not really anyone's business though. And I didn't tell you and Daphne because you two looked perfectly comfortable on the couch. I didn't want to disturb you." Harry wanted to be angry that Blaise liked Daphne, but couldn't bring himself to care. He liked Daphne, but knew that Blaise would be better for her.

Blaise seemed to lose most of his annoyance with Harry once he answered. In fact he looked somewhat ashamed. "Listen Harry, Daphne told me about you two I didn't mean anything today, I don't know what you saw but…" Harry cut him off at this point.

"Blaise don't worry about it, I want you two to be happy. You're better for her than I am anyway. Besides I have a feeling I'm going to be too busy for a girlfriend anyway, and I'm still young I have a long time to find someone. "Blaise seemed very relieved that Harry hadn't taken it so well.

"Oh okay, well, thanks for understanding Harry. Umm, well I'm going to get some sleep mate. Sorry for acting mad at you." Harry just waved off the apology and climbed into bed; he was dead tired and was hoping to get a good night's sleep. His dreams were filled with various ways of getting the diary from that know it all mudblood.

Harry woke up early the next morning. He felt like he hadn't slept at all, but couldn't fall back to sleep. Carefully he gathered his clothes and headed for the showers. He hoped that if he let the water run on his body it would wake him up. It helped a little, but not as much as he had hoped for. By the time he had finished getting ready it was still early, but Harry decided to head down to the Great Hall anyway. For some reason he wasn't in a mood to deal with people and if he could eat his breakfast in peace that would be just fine for him. It didn't take him long to get to the Great Hall, and when he did he wasn't surprised to see it was almost empty. There were a few Ravenclaws with their books out studying, and one or two Hufflepuffs, and Professor Snape sat at the head table. When Harry took his seat his head of house rose and made his way towards him.

"Good morning Potter, I just wanted to remind you that the portraits talk. So keep that in mind today. "He handed Harry his schedule for the day and walked back to the Head Table.

Harry understood what he was told. Don't do anything around the portraits because they will rat you out. As he ate breakfast he thought about the best way to go about getting the diary back. It couldn't be an outright assault in the middle of the hallway because that would draw too much suspicion. After all, what could be so important in a diary of a Gryffindor that a Slytherin would want it enough to attack them? No a brutal attack wouldn't work. He could try and summon it, but figured someone might notice a book flying through the air. He would have to be sneaky about it. He looked down at his schedule and noticed that first was Herbology with the Gryffindors and then Transfiguration with the Gryffindors.

_Maybe I can catch her_ _off guard with a stunner, she would never know who cast it and I could grab the diary and go _he thought. Deciding that was the best way to go about doing it helped to lift a weight off his shoulders. It was simple enough really. The transfiguration hallway had no portraits, all he would have to do is give the other Slytherins the slip and disillusion himself and wait for Granger to leave. She was always last out because she stayed after to ask McGonagall multiple questions about their assignments.

He finished his breakfast soon after figuring out the details. The Great Hall was still mostly empty, but would start to fill very rapidly in a few minutes. Gathering up his stuff Harry gave his head of house a nod to show that he knew what he was going to do, and also show some respect. To his surprise the man gave a barely noticeable nod back. Harry walked out of the room just as the rest of the school began to file in. Since he had more than an hour before he had to be out at the green houses he decided to go for a walk around the lake. It wasn't often that he went outdoors just to enjoy himself, but he felt like he deserved some time to himself. The sun shined down on him and took away some of the chill that the fall winds brought. As he walked he took notice of the merpeople of the lake seemingly playing in the center of the lake. They would occasionally shoot their heads out of the water look around and then dive back under deep into the depths of the water. As he made his way around he kept focus on the things around him, he didn't want to be hassled by animals or other students. However he became curious when he started getting close to where he had started walking. Off in a small clearing of trees he heard someone casting spells. Casting a disillusionment charm on himself and silencing his feet he made his way towards the voice.

"Impedimenta!" he heard a voice ahead call out. The jinx was used to suspend objects in the air and was usually not taught until fourth year. As he got closer what he saw caught him off guard. Longbottom was the one who was practicing, and he must have been successful as there was a large branch which appeared to have been severed with a cutting hex held in the air in front of him. Harry was momentarily surprised, but then again Longbottom was third in their year. Harry smirked as he thought about who was first, him.

Deciding this opportunity was too good to pass up he carefully walked closer until he was about 2 feet behind the boy who lived. As he dropped his charm he raised his wand and pressed it between the boy's shoulder blades. "Impressive spell work, who knew that the great Neville Longbottom actually read ahead though, and it seems your casting spells that fourth years are. How long have you been practicing?" Harry was mostly sarcastic with his tone, but he was genuinely curious as to just how long the boy had been studying ahead.

"Potter? How the hell did you find me?" The boy had whipped around now and taken a few steps back, apparently thinking Harry wouldn't curse him out right. "And it's none of your business how long I've been practicing, now leave or I'll make you leave." The boy raised his wand and aimed it at Harry.

"I'm not going to leave so I guess you'll have to make me then." Harry smirked, Longbottom may be able to cast some spells, but he hadn't been taking lessons from a Dark Lord. Without saying anything the boy called out a disarming charm which caused Harry to practically laugh. It didn't even look strong enough to disarm him, but he wasn't going to risk it.

"Protego!" he called out allowing the spell to be absorbed harmlessly by his shield, "Nice try, but it's my turn now. Bombarda! Stupefy! Incarcerous!" Apparently Neville hadn't gotten to shield spells yet as he seemed dumbfounded that his spell had done nothing, and stood no chance when the ground in front of him exploded sending clumps of dirt into his eyes. The stunner collided into his gut sending him falling backwards, but not before the magical ropes bound him. When it was all said and done the boy who lived lay helplessly bound with his wand on the ground 3 feet away from him.

Harry walked over and looked down at the supposed savior of the Wizarding world. "I wonder how many people would give an arm to have the boy who lived at their mercy like this." He mused out loud. Realizing he was going to be late for Herbology if he didn't hurry Harry cast an enervate on his captive.

"Listen here Longbottom, savior or not, you are not invincible. You will no doubt be powerful, but right now you know nothing but how to cast a spell. You will always end up the way you are now or worse if you keep up with the cocky attitude of yours. Now I'm going to class, just so you learn your lesson I'm going to leave you here and let you figure out how to get out of this mess. "As Harry walked away from the clearing he failed to notice the strange look he was getting from the boy he had left behind.

Harry made it just in time to the green houses, luckily it hadn't been a far walk from the spot he had left Longbottom so he hadn't had to run either. When he got in he walked over and stood in a spot between Malfoy and Blaise.

"Potter," Malfoy started," you must be out of your mind to skip breakfast."

Harry couldn't tell if there was any real concern coming from Draco but he explained that he had just gone early to breakfast. Malfoy gave him a little nod but didn't say anything else.

Professor Sprout came in and the class quieted down immediately. She wasn't a very mean woman usually, but she asked that you pay attention and not interrupt her class. Herbology was one of Harry's least favorite classes simply for the fact that there was no spell work. He paid attention and did his work, but never did anything extra. Today's they would be working with mandrakes. According to Professor Sprout a full-grown mandrakes cry could kill you, but the baby ones they were working with would only knock you out. Each person was given earmuffs to protect themselves while they worked. Harry smirked when he saw that Weasley had to have the bright pink and fluffy ones.

All they had to do was successfully transplant the mandrake from one pot to a larger one so it could grow more without its roots being crowded. The class was almost over and had gone surprisingly without incident. Then the door to the green house opened and Longbottom came rushing in. Just as he did this, a mandrake let out a cry. It looked like he fell in slow motion as he fainted from the sound and went head first into the ground.

All of the Slytherins let out loud laughs and even a few Gryffindors let out a couple of muffled chuckles.

"Students that is enough! Do not laugh at your classmate's situation." Professor Sprout was trying to get the rest of the mandrakes to be quiet so that it would be safe to wake up her student. After seeing that there were at least 5 more mandrakes unpotted by this time she gave up and ended class. She used her wand to levitate Longbottom in front of her and rushed out saying she was taking him to the hospital wing.

Once everyone had finished cleaning up they filed out of the green houses and onto the grounds. There wasn't enough time to do anything before Transfiguration so the Slytherin second years decided they would just go to the classroom early and talk. No one had said anything to Harry, other than Draco, about him not being at breakfast. Even Blaise and Daphne seemed to be avoiding him, and neither of them would meet his eyes when he looked at them. _What is going on _he thought _why they won't look at me_. Deciding to just leave it alone for now, he contented himself with walking in silence while the rest of his classmates chatted with each other.

Transfiguration had never gone slower in Harry's opinion. He liked the subject, but because of his extra studying with his mentors the spells they were learning proved extremely easy for him. He was easily the best in his year without even trying. Professor McGonagall had taken notice of him though. She seemed to critique his work harder than everyone else's, but still could never find anything to criticize.

When the class was finally over he couldn't get out of their fast enough. His nerves were up now, but he knew his plan would work. It was only made easier now that none of the Slytherins were talking to him. He was first in the hall and as soon as he was sure no one was looking he disillusioned himself and leaned against the wall waiting for his target.

He watched as Blaise and Daphne left the room together, and took notice as Blaise gave her hand a little squeeze but then quickly dropped it and continued walking. It wasn't allowed for Slytherins to show affection outside of the common room as it was seen as a sign of weakness. Surprisingly Harry felt nothing at the sight, no anger or jealousy, but no happiness either. Rather he was just impassive and he didn't really care. After five minutes had passed everyone but Granger had left. It was another five minutes before the doors opened again. Granger walked out her bushy hair flying everywhere as she began to hurry down the hall. Harry moved forward and waited until the door had finished closing. He raised his wand and with a silent _stupefy_ a red jet of light fired from his wand towards his target. She never saw it coming as it hit her lower back.

Not wanting to risk being seen Harry never dropped his disillusionment charm as he ran forward to the fallen body. Her bag had fallen and its contents had spilled out onto the floor and just as Harry had hoped the diary was there. Quickly he picked it up and pocketed it, and then left the area. It had been so easy for him to take what he wanted. There was no thrill or anything. It was slightly disappointing for him.

The common room door opened and Harry walked through it. The diary was tucked safely inside his robes. He suspected that by now someone had come across Granger's body and had freed her. Now that he had some free time before he had to see Professor Snape he wanted to talk with Daphne and Blaise. He spotted them in the same spot he saw them the previous night.

"Hey Blaise, Daphne, what's up with you two?" He got right to the point after greeting them.

They both looked down when he called out to him, afraid to meet his eyes it seemed. Harry for the life of him couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then Blaise spoke up, "Umm, well you see Harry, I know what you said last night and all. But we were afraid of how you would react. I figured that last night you were just tired and wanted to put off a fight."

Harry blinked once, then twice. This is the reason they were avoiding him? Harry laughed, he couldn't help himself, "You guys were worried I would be mad? Blaise I told you, I don't mind, you two are good for each other. Both pureblood families, its better this way. Now are you two done avoiding me?" Both of them gave nods. "Good, do you two want to work on some of our homework?" They had to write a paper on uses of mandrake roots for Herbology.

"Yeah sure that's probably a good idea." Daphne spoke up for the first time. The trio pulled out their potions books, thinking it would be the most logical place to start since a lot of the plants they used in Herbology were grown for Professor Snape's supply closet. After about an hour of scanning hopelessly through their text books and finding nothing requiring Mandrakes Blaise flipped.

"AHH! WHY IS THERE NOTHING USEFUL IN THIS BOOK?"

Some of the older students sitting around the common room looked over or glared at him because of the yelling. One of them must have seen which book he was talking about and began to snicker, "don't let Professor Snape hear you calling the book he assigned useless. "

Blaise blanched when he realized what he had just said. He tried to talk but it just all came out in stutters or stammers. Harry thought he heard something in there about that not being what he meant, but wasn't really sure. Then something dawned on Harry that he couldn't believe they over looked, "Guys did anyone look in the Herbology book to see if it listed uses of the root?" When no one said anything Harry just smacked himself in the face. "We're dumb, we could have made this so much simpler." Frustrated that they had been searching all this time in the wrong place Harry began to fish through his bag looking for his Herbology book. Once he found the book he opened to the front to look through the contents. The section on mandrake roots was on page forty-six of the book. When he opened to the page the picture on it began to move, and the mandrake made its horrible screeching sound. Quickly scanning the page he saw that one of the uses for the root was a potion to cure petrification. He told his friends what he had found and suggested they go to the library to see if they could find any books about the potion. So they gathered up their books and started on the walk to the library.

Four hours and twenty inches of parchment later Harry decided he had more than enough to receive top marks on his homework. Blaise and Daphne had slightly less than him, but also decided to stop because of hunger. They had all skipped lunch and were starving. By the time they cleaned up and got down to dinner it was about half over.

The three remained quiet most of dinner choosing to eat their fill instead of chatting. About ten minutes before dinner ended Dumbledore stood up. "Students quiet please, I have an announcement to" At this point Lockhart got up and cut Dumbledore off.

"Don't worry Dumbledore, I'll make this announcement, students you have a rare opportunity available to you. Should you choose, you could learn dueling from me, Gilderoy Lockhart! Please hold your applause. Once a week I, along with some minimal assistance from Professor Snape will be instructing a dueling club." When he was done he flashed his smile and most of the girls in the hall swooned, and the guys just gagged. The teachers were all looking at him with variations of disgust, because of the fact that he cut Dumbledore off or about how self-absorbed he is Harry couldn't tell.

It was then that Harry saw Professor Snape excuse himself from the table and make his way out of the Great Hall. In order to not look suspicious Harry decided to wait a while before he went to see him. He subtly checked his pocket to make sure the diary was still there and let out a breath when he felt the rough edge of the book. He still couldn't believe everything had gone as well as it had. Nothing had gone wrong. It was almost too easy, and Harry couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had about that. In his experience the easiest things always caused the most trouble in the end. Taking a glance towards the Gryffindors table he realized Granger wasn't there, and neither was Longbottom. Putting it out of his mind he tried to focus on what Daphne was talking about so his friends wouldn't think he was ignoring them.

**Potion's Classroom**

Professor Severus Snape was debating on what to do. In a little while he would have in his possession an item that contained part of the Dark Lord's soul. He could easily hand it over to Dumbledore and the man would offer him protection forever. However, he could use it to communicate with his Lord and devise a plan to return him to glory. He would be an honored servant and well respected above all others. He let out a sigh; sometimes playing both sides was hard. The decision didn't have to be made right away though. Right now he had to prepare for Potter's first session.

The young Potter had baffled him from day one of his time at Hogwarts. The boy had been sorted into Slytherin and seemed to have a strong dislike for muggles and muggleborns. That was not the way anyone had expected him to be. Once the boy had been sorted he expected him to be rejected by his peers, an outcast in the house of serpents, yet he had earned their respect. And now they mostly accepted him, despite his blood status. Then he goes and finds out the boy is performing magic way above what he should know. The boy was an enigma to him, and most of his other teachers from what he understood. He was top of his year, but no one ever saw him put extra effort into anything outside of class. He knew now that the boy must have been secretly practicing and studying.

One thing was bugging him more than anything else right now. How had the boy been able to perform magic outside of school? He couldn't figure it out, the boy would not have known what to look for in order to free him of the restrictions, and someone else had to have helped him. Harry Potter was a mystery and he planned on figuring out just who had been helping the boy.

**Outside Potion's Classroom**

Harry was just outside of the classroom now and his nerves were getting to him. He didn't know what to expect from this meeting. Part of him was excited to be finally getting lessons again, and another part was afraid that his Head of House might report him. Now he was outside the door "Well Harry time to find out what's going to happen." He said to himself. He pushed the door open and as he did he found himself almost instantly throwing himself to the floor as a spell came rushing towards him. As he fell he fired off a cutting hex in the direction of his attacker. When he hit the floor he rolled to his left which saved him from being hit by a nasty looking purple spell. He pushed himself to his knees but couldn't get any further as he found another spell coming at him. Not in any position to move with desks one way and a wall the other he cast a shield spell. "Protego!" Just as the shield sprang into existence it was impacted and destroyed, it stopped the majority of the spell but part made it through and hit Harry in the shoulder. He felt the bone snap and he let out a cry of pain.

The same spell came at him again this time slamming into his wand arm. He dropped his wand unable to keep a grip with the bone being fractured. Having no other choice as yet another bone breaking spell came at him Harry resorted to his last option and cast a wandless shield spell. It was weaker but managed to deflect the spell enough so it missed Harry, immediately after the impact Harry yelled "Expelliarmus!Difindo!Depulso!" The first two must have missed their target but the banishing charm had been sent at one of the desks. It hit its mark and an "oomph" was heard as well as a thud when a body hit the floor. Forgetting his pain momentarily Harry grabbed his wand and rushed across the room to hold his attacked at bay. He was surprised when he saw Professor Snape laying under the desk smirking up at him.

"Well done Mr. Potter, your use of wandless magic caught me by surprise. Had I known you were capable of such things I would have been ready for something like this," at this point he paused to move the desk off of himself and stand up, "hold still a moment while I mend your bones." He tapped both of the injured areas with his wand and suddenly it was as if they had never been broken. "Now that was a test just to see how well prepared you were for a fight. You passed, but only just. While you may have gotten the best of me it was sheer dumb luck and an element of surprise. Now that I know what you can do I will be prepared for it. Anyway, before we begin I trust you have what I asked you to bring?" Snape peered over his nose and looked down at Harry waiting for the boy to produce the diary.

Harry reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out the book. He gladly handed it over happy to be rid of the vile thing that had tried to make him a servant. His head of house praised him for a job well done and awarded him 15 house points. _There's that Slytherin favoritism Harry thought while chuckling in his head._

"Now you are here to learn Mr. Potter. Up to now in school you have been taught spells that are good for your everyday uses around a house or business. That is all well and good, but sometimes you have to protect yourself and others. That is why I'm going to be teaching you some offensive spells as well as defensive spells. These spells are used solely to disarm, hurt, or disable your opponent. If you don't think you can handle the thought of purposely hurting someone then leave now." Snape waited to see if the boy would leave, but he didn't even flinch. "Very well, let's not waste any more time with chatter. The first spell I will teach you is a stronger cutting charm."

By the end of the two and a half hour training session Harry felt exhausted. He had worked on the stronger cutting hex most of the time. The incantation for it was Secar, and when cast correctly with enough intent and power it could sever a limb. Otherwise it would just leave a large gash in a person. Towards the end Snape had decided a duel was needed in order to test out how well he could cast the spell under pressure. He had managed to cast the spell but not much more as his Head seemed to let go and unleash everything he had. Harry barely had a chance to move as two stunners impacted his chest and cutting hex hit his thigh. When he woke up he was healed, and Snape had told him they would duel again next time and to practice the spell whenever he had free time. They decided two days from now would be the best time for their next meeting.

So Harry was trudging his way back to the common room wanting nothing more than to go up to his dormitory climb into bed and pass out. It took him ten minutes longer as he had been walking slower but eventually he made it to the common room. Right as the door closed behind him he heard a voice hissing "_Rip, tear, kill."_ He stopped and listened again, but heard nothing more so he let it be. He went over and said good night to Blaise and Daphne and then went to bed, but all night his dreams were haunted by the voice he had heard.

**Chamber of Secrets**

The sound of water splashing against the solid stone floor was all that could be heard. The torches danced as if blown by a breeze. They provided minimal light and had an eerie aura to them. One lone figure stood in the middle of the spacious hall staring at the enormous statue head before her. Blood red eyes were all that could be made out of Hermione's face.

"The diary may be gone, but the fool poured enough of herself into it for me to keep hold of her body. I may not be able to control Potter anymore, but I still have Slytherin's beast. Now, speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!" As the voice of the young dark lord rang out it seemed to go on forever as it bounced off the walls of the empty chamber. The mouth of the statue slid open and a pair of giant yellow eyes slid out.


	11. Chapter 11

Professor Snape was sitting in his office trying to figure out what to do. The damned diary lay in front of him open wide, the faded parchment pages beckoning him to write on them. It was only because of his skill in shielding his mind that he was able to resist the temptation. "Must be a compulsion charm," he mused aloud. As he pondered on what to do he leaned back in his chair slightly and closed his eyes remembering the events of the morning.

_It was about 6:30 a.m. and he was wide awake working on brewing some more potions for Madam Pomfrey. That woman was always running out of supplies. "Although if those Gryffindor idiots weren't so clumsy and rash she probably wouldn't need half of the amount I make."_ _he thought. Scowling to himself Professor Snape kept working; thinking about Gryffindors always soured his mood. He couldn't help but be reminded of his time at Hogwarts and the pompous idiot that was James Potter. _

_That's why it took all of his restraint not to curse the young Potter in Slytherin when he burst through the potion's classroom door with a wild frantic look in his eyes. He was about to tell off his student for barging in and being generally obnoxious but was cut off when the boy spoke._

"_I'm sorry for disturbing you Professor, but it's urgent. You still have the diary right?" The boy had such a look of panic Snape knew something was wrong. Without saying a word he walked briskly into a door in the back of the room leading to his quarters. He opened the chest in which he had stored the diary, and to his relief it was right where he had left it. Remerging from the room he confronted his student._

"_Yes Mr. Potter it is right where I left it last night, why the concern boy? What has happened?"_

_While Potter looked slightly relieved there was still obvious tension in his body "There was an attack. Mrs. Norris is dead, I think, she is hanging from a lamp in the hallway. On the wall behind her it says in blood THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPEN, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE." _

"_Take me to the spot now," was all he said. The boy nodded and he followed him out and up to the fourth floor. Sure enough when he got there the scene was just as Potter had described. "Stay here Potter; I am going to get Dumbledore and the rest of the staff." He quickly hurried off. It was still early and most of the students weren't awake so he hoped to be able to get this cleaned up before a large crowd gathered. That's when he realized he had no idea why Potter was up this early, let alone on the fourth floor. That was a conversation for their next meeting, though, he decided as he reached the gargoyle which lead to the headmaster's office. _

_When he had told the Headmaster about what had happened the man appeared to age 50 years on spot. He wasted no time though and immediately sent his phoenix Fawkes to get the rest of the staff. Snape had then led him back to the spot where Potter was standing; unfortunately it appeared Longbottom had decided to show up. _

_When he got closer he overheard part of the conversation between the two boys._

"_You know Longbottom hearing voices in your head isn't good even in the magical world." Potter remarked with the trademark Slytherin smirk on his face._

"_It was NOT in my head! I actually heard it and I know it was real!" It appeared Potter had been riling up the boy who lived. Severus was saved from having to deal with the two boys when Dumbledore spoke up. _

"_Neville, Mr. Potter good morning to you both. I am sure you were having an important conversation, but now I need you to tell me what you know of the situation involving poor Mrs. Norris and this message." As he spoke the twinkling in the old man's eyes just seemed to compel you to want to talk to him. Severus had noted it long ago and since then he always made sure to avoid eye contact. Silently he applauded when he noticed Potter divert his gaze away._

_Not surprisingly Longbottom spoke first "I was following a voice I heard! It kept saying something about ripping and killing over and over Headmaster! It stopped and then I turned the corner and found Mrs. Norris dead. I went to find Professor McGonagall. When I couldn't I rushed back down here to see if anyone else had showed up." Snape watched impassively as Dumbledore looked deep into the boy's eyes probably scanning through his thoughts to determine if what he said was the truth. The old man then turned his attention to Potter._

_Without being prompted he spoke, "I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to go for a walk when I found this. I got Professor Snape and now here we all are." As he finished the other Professors came around the corner and stopped short at the sight of the cat hanging from the wall. Most visibly paled and Professor Sprout looked like she might even be sick. _

"_Albus what has happened here?" McGonagall got right to the point. _

"_I will explain everything in our staff meeting, if you two young men would go to the Great Hall I'm sure breakfast is already waiting. Please do not mention this event to anyone else though. I will make an announcement at breakfast." Albus addressed the two boys. They both nodded and walked off with no protest surprisingly. Snape adjusted his face to an uncaring mask as he followed the rest of his fellow Professors to their meeting room. This promised to be a frustrating day already._

As he came back out of his thoughts he couldn't describe how right he had been. Not only had the meeting been useless, but all day long in his classes after the announcement at breakfast it seemed like the only thing students cared about was what the monster in the chamber was. Five exploding cauldrons in less than three hours. That was a new record! Sighing he pulled out a flask of headache potion, also known as fire whiskey. After taking a gulp he put the flask back and picked up a quill. It was time to get to work, and he began to write in the diary.

**Before the Attack**

Harry Potter was currently walking around the castle exploring the floors for no apparent reason. To any casual observer he just appeared to be a curious student off looking for secret passages. The truth was, he did have a goal to accomplish. He needed to find a place to enact revenge against Marcus Flint. As Slytherins they couldn't fight openly. Not when half of the school already disliked them. So revenge needed to be done quietly, stealthily, but most importantly it had to be vicious. If their punishment wasn't vicious enough what would stop the other person from retaliating with something worse. Harry refused to allow Flint to belittle him and go unharmed. The boy would learn to never mess him again as soon as he figured out an area to execute his plan.

Harry knew that prefects were to patrol the floors after curfew to make sure students weren't out and wandering around. This is when he planned on capturing Flint. The only problem with his plan was that he didn't have a clue where Flint would be. So that is why he was currently going from floor to floor picking spots he could corner his target.

He had made it to the fourth floor when the he heard the same voice from the night before "rip, tear, kill" Stopping in his tracks he did a quick three sixty and his wand was in his hand up and ready for action. But there was no one around. "Strange" thought Harry aloud. He started walking again, but then he heard it. A loud hissing was coming from around the corner; cautiously he approached and looked around. That's when he saw Mrs. Norris hanging dead in the hallway. But it wasn't just that. Fingers dripping blood Hermione Granger stood painting words onto the wall. Having never put his wand away he came around the corner fully and confronted the girl.

"Funny Granger, I didn't picture you for the Satanist type sacrificing animals and writing in blood." But his joking manner quickly left when the girl turned around and she spoke.

"Hello Harry, surprised to see me still here? I know it was you that took the diary. But as you can see I don't really need it now. She had poured so much of herself into me that I still can maintain control of her. Granted it won't be for long, I can already feel my hold on her slipping, but I'll have just enough time to carry out a few attacks." Harry couldn't believe it. Tom was still inside of her. Thankfully he had admitted without the diary his control would cease, but who knew how much damage could take place before that happened.

Tom continued to speak "Don't worry Harry I'm sure we'll meet again someday there is no need for you to be sad at my leaving." This was said with a sickly sweet smile that Harry wished he could curse off of Tom. Just then loud footsteps were heard coming down the hallway. Harry turned to look behind him but when he turned around Tom was gone. Thinking quickly Harry disillusioned himself and pressed against the wall. It would do no good to be found at the scene of a crime like this. To his surprise none other than the boy who lived came rushing around the corner only to come to a dead halt upon taking in what was before him. After standing there for a few moments he ran back the way he came. Harry gave him a minute to make sure he wouldn't come back and then walked at a brisk pace down the dungeons to find his head of house.

**After the Attack**

They had just been dismissed by Dumbledore, and neither had seen any point in arguing knowing it would only end up with them being sent away and losing house points. So together Harry and Longbottom walked down to the Great Hall. When they passed the second floor bathroom, where Harry knew the entrance to the chamber was, he suddenly was struck with a realization. If Tom killed students then Hogwarts might have to close. While he didn't doubt his ability to learn on his own, the library here had resources that could not be found anywhere else in the world. He would have to find a way to keep Tom from killing students, without letting him know he (Harry) had interfered lest he become a target. To accomplish this he would need to venture into the chamber either tonight or the next and seek out the monster. Maybe once he determined what the beast actually was he could figure out a way to protect people from it.

To Longbottom's credit he still hadn't said much to Harry since their run in on the grounds. Maybe just maybe the boy had taken what he told him to heart. That thought was broken when Longbottom decided to open his mouth. "You only beat me because you caught me off guard." It was stated so matter-o-factly that Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. He really thought he stood a chance in a fight. Not feeling in the mood for a fight Harry just agreed with the boy.

By now they had reached the entrance to the Great Hall and walked in. Without saying anything to each other they walked to their separate tables and sat down. Malfoy was already at the table as were a few other older Slytherins. Malfoy noticed who he had walked in with and immediately made a comment.

"Walking with the golden boy now Potter?"

"No Malfoy, I'll explain what happened later if you want, but right now I just want to enjoy my breakfast." Malfoy seemed to accept this and distracted himself with reading through the copy of the Daily Prophet his owl had dropped off for him.

Harry filled his plate with a modest amount of food and began to eat while he waited for Blaise and Daphne to show up. He took this time to observe the few other people around the room. First was the older Slytherins at his table. He recognized Marcus Flint right away and got an evil gleam in his eye when he thought of his revenge. Sitting further down the table was a boy by the name of Adrian Pucey. Pucey was currently in his fourth year at Hogwarts and was very popular with the girls. He had become a chaser for the Slytherin team in his second year and was probably the only one who had never committed an outright foul against a team. Harry didn't know too much about his family, although by the way the boy dressed he suspected his family had at least a fair amount of money. Harry didn't have any problem with him as they really hadn't spoken ever.

Next to Pucey sat a boy by the name of Terence Higgs. Higgs was the seeker for the Quidditch team, but he was a seventh year so this would be his last season. Unlike Pucey, Higgs had racked up a long list of fouls over his years of playing. No one dared challenge him though, as it was known that not only was he good on a broom, having only missed the snitch once. He was also one of the most talented in the school with a wand. He was well respected throughout Slytherin and feared throughout the rest of the school.

There were a few more sixth and fifth years sitting at the table that Harry wasn't that familiar with so he let his gaze go to the other house tables. Looking at Ravenclaw he spotted one familiar face right away. Terry Boot, the boy he had sat with one the train first year, was currently engrossed in a book of some sorts. He must have felt Harry's eyes on him for he looked up and gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, to which Harry returned.

The only other person he recognized was Luna Lovegood. The first year that he had thought was quite mad. She just had this dreamy look on her face as she read a magazine upside down. She to noticed Harry staring, but instead of nodding or just ignoring him she got up and started to walk over.

When she reached the table without even asking she took a seat across from him. "You know it's rude to stare at someone. One might think they have nargles in their hair if you stare at them."

Harry was completely lost, "Umm, I'm sorry for staring, but what is a nargle?" And he honestly had no idea; it wasn't even something he had heard of before. She just shook her head and then spoke again.

"You're Harry Potter." As she spoke Harry just got more and more confused. And to his annoyance it seemed like Malfoy was just content to keep quiet and enjoy the girl confusing the hell out of him.

"Yes, yes I am. And you're Luna Lovegood." It was the only thing he could think of to say back.

She extended her hand which Harry took, "Pleasure to meet you, now that we've been introduced you can stare without me worrying about nargles." With that said she got up and walked back to her table. Harry had no idea what happened and gave up even trying to understand it after thirty seconds.

Malfoy took this opportunity to pipe up, "You should have seen your face Potter, it was priceless. I don't think I've ever seen you look that lost. It was really a good show to see.."

"Shut up Malfoy."

Blaise and Daphne walked into the Great Hall about five minutes after the strange encounter with the crazy blonde girl. Once they had greeted him and sat down, he told his friends about what had happened. They too had the same reaction that Malfoy had. It was about fifteen minutes later that the rest of the school seemed to pile into the Hall all at once. Just as the staff members started to come in Harry decided to make his leave. To his surprise Malfoy asked him to wait up.

He waited outside the Great Hall for the blonde boy. He came out about a minute later and approached Harry. "Thank you for waiting, I need to talk to you."

Harry for his part was slightly confused but let the boy continue. "You see as you suggested I told Professor Snape about what had happened in Defense with that idiot teaching. He said he would speak with Dumbledore to see what could be done. I also wrote to my father because he is on the Board of Governors. Since it was your idea I wanted to make sure to keep you up to date."

"Thank you Malfoy I appreciate it. And hopefully we won't have to deal with that idiot all year. I was actually looking forward to learning something useful." He said. "Oh and I have a proposition for you. Originally Blaise was going to help me but since he's with Daphne I don't think he will." Harry then explained how they planned to mess with the Weasley girl to Draco.

"Doing something that will piss those Weasleys off? You can count me in. How should we go about this?"

"I was thinking we should make a secret admirer for her. Then once we've got her interest and she starts writing back we agree to meet her somewhere. Once she gets there we prank her, like change her hair color or something and then tell her it was all lies. No doubt this will set off that idiot Ronald, and he'll try and attack us."

"I like it," Malfoy commented, "but we don't even need to tell her it was a lie. I'll be the admirer if you help write the letters, just the fact that I, a Malfoy, would dare look at his beloved to head back to the common room and begin working on the first letter.

**Back in the Great Hall**

The Boy-Who-Lived had been very quiet throughout the entire breakfast and his friends were concerned. He always had something to say and for him to not speak and barely touch his food something was wrong. While he didn't notice the two Slytherins leaving right before the announcement that would shock the school, Tom did.

"Oh this is too perfect. I was wondering who I could pin this on, but with them leaving right before the suspicion will already be there." He thought.

Trying to draw the brooding boy out of his mood Hermione spoke up, "Hey did you notice that Potter and Malfoy just left?"

Even though he hadn't Longbottom gave a little nod, but Ron Weasley decided to voice his opinion, "Probably off to bully some first years, slimy gits all of them."

Dumbledore stood up and his magically enhanced voice made the entire hall go silent. "Students please quiet down. I have some grave news to tell all of you." By now no one was making a sound, "Mrs. Norris was found dead this morning. " A few in the audience made silent cheering motions until he continued, "there was a message next to her body that read the chamber of secrets is open, enemies of the heir beware."

No one made any sound until one of the older students in Hufflepuff called out "But headmaster isn't the Chamber of Secrets only a legend?" A couple of people made noises of agreement.

"Unfortunately not my dear boy, this is the second time the chamber has been opened in recent history. I must press upon all of you the need to take precautions. Do not be out after curfew; travel in groups at all times." With that message the Headmaster sat back down.

By this point most of the first years were panicking. The muggleborns mostly had no idea what was being referred to and had to ask some of their friends to fill them in. The only table that didn't look worried was Slytherin. After all why should they be, the legend stated the monster was there to kill Mudbloods, not purebloods from their noble house.

Eventually people started to calm down enough that they could leave the Great Hall without fear of being attacked. The Gryffindor Trio had left together, and finally Ron had enough of his bestmate's sour attitude.

"Alright mate, what's been bothering you?" For once showing that he could indeed show some sensitivity.

"Ron I was there! I saw Mrs. Norris; I found her and the message. It was written in blood!" Ron went pale in the face while Hermione pretended to be shocked and gave a little gasp.

"Oh that's horrible! I'm so sorry Neville!" Hermione enveloped him in a hug.

"Yeah well, the other thing is it wasn't just me…when I came back after looking for a teacher to tell Potter was standing there. But he didn't seem effected at all. He was just looking at the scene like it was nothing to him, not even worth his time."

"Why that no good slimy snake! He's probably the Heir! Came back to admire his handiwork, and then had to make up a lie to get out of it no doubt. That's probably where he and Malfoy went to! To plan their next attack." Hermione couldn't believe her luck bless his heart that bigoted red head had just made the accusations so loud anyone within thirty feet would have heard. Sure enough the whispers started almost instantly.

Hermione was smirking on the inside; before the day was done the whole school would know that Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin.

Harry and Draco entered their classroom that day with smirks that would make any Slytherin jealous. However, when they entered almost everyone in the class room stopped what they were doing to turn and look at them. It was transfiguration with the Gryffindors so the hate filled looks weren't surprising, but the ones filled with fear were. Neither had to say anything because the Weasel jumped up before they could even get a word out.

"You bastards! Who did you attack now? Some innocent Hufflepuff?"

Harry knew what he was talking about but wisely ignored it, obviously the boy just wanted to make them look like they were denying what it was he was accusing them of. Unfortunately Draco had no idea what the red head was talking about and let him know it.

"What are you on about you blood traitor? What do you mean attack, as if I would waste my time with a pathetic Hufflepuff," it seemed Draco couldn't resist one last shot either, "but your sister might be worth spending some time with." In a second Weasley was out of his chair and trying to get at Mafloy's throat.

Harry reacted quickly though, his wand was out in a second and the disarming spell caught Weasley in the gut knocking him backwards. This also had the adverse effect of disarming the boy, although judging by the fact that his wand was wrapped in some sort of white tape Harry couldn't seem to even process it as a threat.

"Really Weasley, how dense are you? Did you not just accuse Malfoy and me of being the ones responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets? Then like a common muggle you throw yourself at us with bare hands instead of using your wand. Pathetic." Harry really just couldn't understand how the boy had even made it into Hogwarts.

Just as Harry finished up his berating, Professor McGonagall walked in. She was already having a hard day with the attacks, but to walk in and before she can even start lessons someone is laying on the ground disarmed threw her over board.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy you will be serving detention with Hagrid this evening." She cut off their protests as well as the rest of their class mates, "No if's or but's and I did not stutter, now take your seats and open your books we will be learning how to turn a mouse into a pin cushion today. This will be the building blocks for harder animal to object and object to animal transfigurations you will do in your later years here."

For a while the class went on normally they had to read over the theory and answer questions about the wand movements. Just as they started to get into the practical part of it though leave it to Granger to derail the whole class.

"Professor, what can you tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

Perhaps because it was Granger asking, or maybe it was just the fact that Harry knew Tom was already aware of everything about the chamber. Whatever the reason he just got very annoyed, try as he could to hide it sometimes emotions are impossible to stop.

Blaise noticed first, "Harry mate you look like you're going to kill someone," he whispered. Daphne nodded her head in agreement from her seat next to Blaise. The other Slytherins turned their heads after hearing the comment. And they too, he could see, were agreeing. He just shrugged and lowered his head not caring to hear the legend of the Chamber. As it turned out no work was actually done that period because McGonagall had to stop every few seconds to answer someone's question about the chamber or attack.

When the class finally finished it was about the middle of the afternoon and time for lunch. Since Harry had that unfairly given detention to attend to tonight, he decided to make his trip into the chamber while everyone else was eating. His friends tried to hang back and talk to him about his mood in class, but he wouldn't say anything except he needed some time alone. They took the hint after five or so times of asking and went on ahead with everyone else.

As he walked along Harry did his best to ignore everyone whispering and point at him. It seemed that Weasley's rumor spread fast. In a way it was nice to be thought of as the Heir. Now only a true fool would challenge him, but also it was going to bring a lot of unwanted attention. He had always preferred to slip into the background and make his moves from there. It would be much harder to do now. Even the portraits seemed to follow him as he walked their eyes constantly on him. It was unnerving really, had the Headmaster told them to keep an eye on him? Did he suspect Harry of actually being the Heir?

The walk to the Second Floor Girl's bathroom seemed to take forever. The only positive was that no one was around to question why he would be going in there in the first place. It was a much similar place to the boy's bathrooms. He took a minute to look around and make sure no one was inside to see what he was about to do. Then he walked over to the sink that Riddle had pointed out earlier in the year and found the carving of a serpent on the underside of the faucet. Just as he closed his eyes and began to visualize a snake so that he could speak Parseltonuge a voice rang out and made him jump.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE? THIS IS A GIRL'S BATHROOM!" Spinning on spot Harry turned to face the source of the high pitched shriek. There floating in front of him was a ghost. She was slightly pudgy with glasses. Dressed in what appeared to be old Ravenclaw robes. He guessed she couldn't have been any older than a fifth year when she had died. Judging by the spot she was in it didn't take a whole lot to guess how she had met her fate.

"I'm sorry I won't be long I just need to see to something." He explained. His guess on how she had died was proved right when she looked at where his hand was placed.

"You're here to open that Chamber! You're going to let that beast out and kill the school? Help! HELP! Somebody stop him!" The ghost began to shriek and kept getting progressively louder. Harry spoke quickly hoping to avoid having someone run in here and catching him.

"Wait wait! I'm not here to set it free. I'm trying to make sure it doesn't kill anyone. Someone else has been letting it out. Have you seen the girl with bushy brown hair come in here before?" He questioned. The ghost seemed to think about this for a minute before responding.

"Yes once or twice, but I never stayed long. She never wanted to talk to me, poor lonely Myrtle. No one ever wants to talk to fat, ugly Moaning Myrtle." And now the ghostly girl was crying. Harry didn't even think ghosts could cry, but here she was balling her eyes out. Sighing he decided to entertain her for a few minutes if it meant she wouldn't tell anyone he was here.

"Well I have some time so why don't you talk to me Myrtle? If it's not too touchy of a subject, how did you die?" He knew it must have been Slytherin's monster but wanted to know the specifics just in case he came across the beast outside of where Tom said it would be.

"Oh really! You want to hear how I died! I just love telling the story. It's so dark and tragic." Here the ghost let out a few giggles and then continued, "well some boys had been picking on me in the hallway. Pushing me around, and calling me fat. So I ran into here crying and didn't want to come out for the rest of the day. After a few hours I heard someone come in, but then I heard a boy's voice right by that sink you're touching. He was hissing and I made to tell him to go away, but when I opened the stall all I saw was a pair of huge, bright yellow eyes. Then it was all over, just like that. And I've been here ever since." She had brightened up considerably after having gotten to tell someone how she died. Harry didn't understand it but now at least she had stopped yelling.

"That is very fascinating, so this monster kills with its eyes. I'll have to be extra careful while I'm down there then. Thank you for telling me your story Myrtle. I need to do what I came here to do now though." The ghost didn't say anything instead she just blew a kiss and floated away/

Shaking his head at some of the weird situations he wound up in Harry turned back to the sink. He once again focused him mind on the image of a snake so he would be able to speak in Parseltongue.

"_Open." He hissed._

As the sink began to drop into the floor Harry idly wondered about the location of the entrance. Either Slytherin had been a true genius thinking no one would ever look for the entrance here, or he was partially mad. The sink had all but vanished now leaving a massive hole in the floor. He was not about to jump down some hole not knowing how far of a fall or what waited at the bottom.

"_Stairsssss" He hissed. _

To his amazement it worked, stairs slid out of the side of the tunnel and he began to descend them, with a silent lumos his wand tip lit up. He stopped and looked up; it wouldn't do good to leave the entrance open. Just in case some other person came wandering in.

"_Closssse"_

The hole shut and he continued to descend the stairs. As he got further down he caught wind of a putrid smell. It was a mix of mold and rotting something. Small traces of fear were creeping into his mind and he wasn't so sure this was a good idea. What if Riddle was down here right now? He would never stand a chance in a fair fight and could be killed. Or what about the monster, it killed with its eyes according to Myrtle. Using his occlumency he pushed those thoughts back behind his barriers. He couldn't turn back now fear was an emotion he would have to concur. It was the very embodiment of weakness and he was NOT weak.

After what seemed like hours he reached the bottom. He was definitely glad he hadn't jumped. Piled about 6 feet high at the bottom of the hole were dead bodies of creatures and even some that look like humans. All skeletons now, but just the thought of landing in something like that made him feel dirty. He no longer needed his wand as torches lit the way down the hall. He walked along and admired the impressive stonework that had a green tint to it. He wondered if it was mold or had been spelled that way by Slytherin.

"Oh shit." In front of him was a snake skin. But this was no ordinary snake skin; it was about 60 feet long, and looked about 4 to 5 feet wide. It was then that Harry realized exactly what he was dealing with. It had been mentioned briefly in one of the books he had read. There was a basilisk in Hogwarts.

"How am I going to stop a basilisk?" he wondered aloud. At this point he had continued moving forward, but was seriously doubting his plan now. He came to what looked like an ornately carved vault door. Two snakes made up the outer ring while Slytherin's crest was carved in the middle of it. Doing what he had before he hissed at the door to open. The snakes on the outside sprung to life and slid into two holes in the middle of the carving. A faint click was heard and the door split down the middle and the pieces slid to the side. Through the door he could see the inner chamber, and the statue that Tom had told him contained the beast. This was it, his last chance to walk away and live. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and walked through the opening.

The first thing that struck him was the sudden increase in temperature; it was much warmer in this chamber than it had been in the other. Most likely because of the basilisk, they were cold blooded and if it spent too much time in a cold place it would probably die. The second thing was the aura the room gave off. A sense of dread seemed to set on him as he slowly walked across the circular room. Torches lined the wall giving off enough light to see, but not enough to fully illuminate the dark crevices and corners. He stopped twenty feet in front of the statue of Slytherin's head and began to speak "Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

For a few moments nothing happened and he began to wonder if he had been tricked. Perhaps this was an elaborate trap. Then the mouth slowly started to fall open on the statue. Inside he could hear the basilisk moving. The scales rubbing against the inside of the statue causing a grating sound, the low hiss coming from its throat as it emerged. Preparing himself Harry lowered his head and closed his eyes.

He could feel it there, probably looking directly at him wondering how fast it could kill him. He needed to act before it did just that. Nervously he spoke _"Hello king of the sssserpentsss."_

"_Young sssspeaker you need not fear my gaze, it will not harm thossse with the talent."_

Feeling he could trust the massive snake as it hadn't killed him yet Harry raised his head and opened his eyes_. "I wasss not sssure if I would be effected." _

"_You are fine young one, but you are not the sssspeaker who wasss lassst here."_

"_No I am not; I am here to inform you that you have been deccceived. The sssspeaker who wassss here lassst is not of pureblood. They are a Mudblood!"_ It was the only thing he could think of that might make the monster turn on Tom.

"_Whatsss how isss that possssible? I will kill the Mudblood if it isss to ssshow itssself here again."_ The basilisk seemed so offended it had been tricked.

"_Thisss isss not your fault, the Mudblood is being possssesssed by another. He couldn't find a ssssuitable hossst. I have come to sssseeek your help. This other ssspeaker looksss to usse you to kill, but I can't have that for the ssschool will closse. You are able to petrify correct?"_ The basilisk just nodded its massive head in agreement. _"Good you will only petrify from now on, do not let on to the other that you know of hisss deceit."_

"_I will do as you asssk, but do not be fooled into believing you can control me ssspeaker. I am the King of Ssserpents, posssibly the last of my kind. None can match my power."_

Harry bowed to the serpent _"I would never dream of controlling you, it isss sssimply impossssible. Now I big you a good day and happy hunting, I must return to the ssscchool."_

The snake turned and slithered back into the statue from where it had come. The mouth sealed and Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Somehow he had just convinced a thousand year old basilisk to help him stop Tom. Not wanting to wait around for Tom to actually show up though he quickly began his trek back to the school. All he had to do now was make it through his detention tonight and almost all of his problems would be solved.

**Slytherin Common Room**

Blaise and Daphne were sitting comfortable on one of the sofas together with Malfoy in an armchair across from them. Theo Nott and Pansy Parkinson were sitting with their backs against the arm of the chair. Currently they were all discussing the recently odd behavior of their fellow year mate, Harry Potter.

"He hasn't been right lately, like today he was moody and just got angry for no reason." Blaise said. Daphne piped in next "Yeah and he's been making excuses just to get away from all of us recently."

Draco decided to put his two cents in next, "How did Potter know about the attacks today? I just realized he mentioned them, but wasn't there when the announcement was made. I know about them now because you all filled me in. But that doesn't explain him." They all thought about it for a minute, and then Nott voiced what everyone was thinking.

"Potter couldn't be the Heir could he? I mean Weasley accused him of it, but it's not true right?" No one had an answer, secretly they hoped it wasn't true, but couldn't shake the doubt from their mind. Nott kept going "Does anyone know where he is right now?"

Again no one had an answer. "The last I saw of him was right after Transfiguration; he said he wanted time alone to work out his frustration." Blaise was really about his friend.

From a sofa away a girl by the name of Tracey Davis spoke up, "Why don't you just confront him about it when he gets back? If he really was the Heir of Slytherin it would be something to be proud about inside our common room and hide outside of it."

Parkinson replied snidely to her "Oh yeah we'll just walk up to him and be like Potter are you the heir who's opening the chamber of secrets. Good idea Davis." Any further response was stopped by Draco though.

"No she's right. Kinda, I mean. If he was the heir he could speak parseltongue right? What if we conjured a snake right before he came in the common room? If it went after him he might slip up and speak right?" Nott and Parkinson agreed, but Daphne and Blaise were nervous.

"What if he figures out what we were doing, he might get mad…I've already been on the receiving end of Harry's spells after he woke up from a nightmare and it isn't fun." Blaise cringed a little at the memory and Daphne rubbed his back comfortingly.

"I'll do it." Tracey Davis volunteered to the shock of the others," what? I've never talked to him before really, what do I care if he's mad at me?" The common room door opened and sure enough Harry started walking in. Tracey raised her wand and cast "_serpensortia_". A small green snake about 3 feet long shot out of her wand and slithered right at Harry.

Harry heard the spell and saw the snake he didn't see who cast it but didn't care at the moment. All he knew was he wasn't in the mood to be bitten. _"Ssstopp"_ he hissed out before he realized what he was doing. The gasps throughout the common room alerted him to his mistake, the snake had stopped and with a quick "incendio" it was gone.

Harry scanned the room with his eyes looking for whoever had just forced him to reveal one of his secrets. His eyes stopped on Tracey, she was standing up twirling her wand between her fingers with a smug smile gracing her lips. "What right do you have to attack me Davis?" he screamed at her. By now he had the attention of everyone in the room.

"Oh get over it Potter I just wanted to know if you were actually the heir. Now we all know it, don't worry we won't tell anyone else. Good job offing that squib's cat though." He looked around and saw nods of confirmation, but how could he be sure. This was Slytherin, secrets were like money. The more you had the better off you were and one of his biggest ones had just been lost.

"_This isn't over Davisss, if any of youss thinksss about telling my s-ssecret I'll end your pitiful life. Isss that understood" He was so angry part of his speech came out in parseltongue hisses._

Normally such a threat from a second year would be laughed at and then end up with the second year being cursed. Take into account that the second year was the heir of Slytherin and had an unknown monster that could kill people and it becomes infinitely more intimidating. No one said anything so Harry took it as a silent confirmation. He wanted to get his Transfiguration homework done before his detention but first walked right up to Davis. He leaned in and whispered so only she could hear, "I don't know what you're deal is or why you think I was a good target, but watch your back. I am not someone to cross." With his threat delivered he walked off to his dorm room. He didn't notice that Tracey kept following him because he was so lost in his thoughts. It wasn't until he closed his door and it opened a second later that he even realized someone was behind him. Thinking it was Blaise he ignored it, which turned out to be a mistake as he got hit in the back with a tickling curse. He pulled his wand and went to counter it, but because he was on the floor Tracey was easily able to kick it away.

"Don't you ever threaten me again Potter. I'm not afraid of you, heir or not. Everyone else may be scared as hell of you now, but not me!"

That was it; Harry had enough of this girl. He hadn't ever spoken to before today, "I'm not even the bloody heir! I just said that so everyone would leave me alone. I don't know why I can speak parseltongue but I can."

She stopped herself from whatever she was going to say next and then went and sat down. On his bed!

"You're not the heir? Then who is Potter? Surely you must know. And do you know where the Chamber is?"

"Lord Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin, the last one remaining. And even if I did know where the chamber was, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you!" The nerve of this girl to attack him from behind and then just start questioning him expecting honest answers.

To his great annoyance she seemed satisfied with the answers he gave. They were meant to infuriate her not make her happy. "Davis look, I don't know what you want, but could you leave I have Transfiguration homework to do before my detention tonight." He really just wanted the girl to leave him alone forever.

She got a wicked smile on her face though and opened up her school bag, "That's fine but I'll stay and work on mine to, we can help each other. Or really you can help me since I know you're very good at the subject."

Harry wanted to just let out a scream but used his Occlumency to calm himself. "Fine," he ground out," but you're not just copying mine. I'll help if you need it though." For some reason Harry felt this was going to be the start of a very dysfunctional friendship with Davis.

**Later that Night**

Detention hadn't been nearly as bad as Harry thought it might be. Hagrid had complained to them how something had killed his roosters a few nights ago, so he wanted to make sure the rest of his creatures were safe. In order to this he had Draco and Harry levitate boulders and logs to make large walls. It didn't take long at all and the half-giant let them leave as soon they had finished. Overall it took about an hour, the two friends had said goodnight at the door to Harry's room and now Harry was laying bed with a new book.

The book covered all sorts of spells to make you portray an aura of power about you. Like his Head of House who had the billowing cloak behind him. Harry envied that and was currently reading over a spell that would give him a similar effect when he walked. He had been in bed for about an hour when he heard it. _"Rip, tearrr, kill"_ It seemed Tom was having a busy night. Which meant with Slytherin thinking he was the heir tomorrow was going to be either enjoyable or horrible. Deciding he would need his energy he extinguished his light and went to bed.

**Gryffindor Boy's Room**

Neville sat bolt upright in bed and looked around. He knew he heard it! This wasn't in his head. _"rip, tearrr, kill" _There it was again! He threw his covers off and sprinted from the room trying to chase down the source of the voice. He needed to stop the Heir before someone else got hurt or worse. This is what he had been training for, he wanted to protect people. He didn't know he was already too late, and that a certain obnoxious Gryffindor first year with a camera now lay on the floor unmoving like a statue. That's why when he jumped out of the common room entrance he tripped and nearly fell down the stairs. Turning to see what he tripped over his mind stopped working. "No, please don't be dead. Please don't be dead!" He needed to get Professor Dumbledore. So he hurried off to the man's office hoping he would make it safely.


	12. Chapter 12

Dumbledore was worried. It wasn't so much the attacks on the students that were bothering him. No, he knew that eventually young Neville would figure it out and then he could manipulate a way for the boy to "stop" the monster. That would make the boy look like even more of a hero in the eyes of the wizarding world and come the time when Voldemort was reborn and people had to choose a side they might be convinced to join the light. The main subject of his worry was Harry Potter. The boy was a complete mystery to him.

He couldn't figure out how someone who had been raised in a muggle orphanage and didn't have any knowledge of magic until last year could be so powerful already. The boy had jumped to first in his year and excelled at everything. As far as studies and the curriculum went young Mr. Potter wasn't that much further ahead than some of the other students. But it was the extra study sessions that some of the paintings had reported Mr. Potter doing that worried him the most. The boy was studying almost every night.

Then the other day the portraits had reported the boy going into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Dumbledore knew the entrance to the chamber was in that bathroom somewhere. He just didn't have a means at accessing it. But when he had gone to confront the boy about being in a girl's bathroom the boy was nowhere to be seen. But the portraits said he hadn't left yet. In his mind Dumbledore knew rationally that Harry Potter could not be the heir of Slytherin, but there was a lingering doubt and a what if going through his mind. How could someone born of a parent who everyone believed was descended from Gryffindor be the heir of Slytherin. No, it simply wasn't possible. The Potters had always been aligned with the Light and never would have been mixed up with someone from a Dark family.

There wasn't time to worry about all that now though. He had to prepare a speech to give to the students at breakfast. Mr. Longbottom had been so worried about the Creevey boy when he came and found him last night. At least Dumbledore knew he had one of the two possible prophecy children firmly on the side of the light. Luckily the boy had only been petrified which meant that he could be revived once they had brewed the proper draught. With a long sigh he picked up a quill and began writing out what he was going to say. This promised to be an interesting day.

**Great Hall**

It happened almost just as Harry imagined it. He walked through the doors with Draco to his immediate right and the whole room went silent. All eyes were fixed on him; the one everyone had deemed the heir of Slytherin. The Hogwarts rumor mill was legendary so it was no shock that everyone knew Creevey had been petrified. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Draco smirk a little. It wasn't worth arguing about so Harry decided to embrace it, and it gave him a chance to try out some of the magic he had been reading about that gave off an aura of power. Wandlessly and silently so no one would notice he cast a spell that made his cloak billow in the back as he walked towards their table. Students who were in his way practically threw themselves on the ground when he came near them. Once he reached the table he stood across from Blaise and Daphne and he noticed his two friends were barely holding back their laughter at the show he had put on. He and Draco took their seats and began digging into breakfast like nothing had happened. That was when Dumbledore decided to take advantage of the silence and make his speech. Harry ignored it since he already knew what it was going to say.

"Travel in groups, blah blah, don't be out past curfew, blah blah, avoid evil Slytherins, blah blah, don't listen to all rumors, blah blah blah!" Harry for his part hadn't realized his voice had been getting louder, or that the Headmaster had already finished his speech.

Once again everyone's attention was on the boy who had just openly mocked Albus Dumbledore. Once again Blaise and Daphne were struggling to hold back laughter. Dumbledore looked mildly annoyed at being so openly mocked in front of the entire school, not that Harry cared. But the other students mostly just looked at him with anger or loathing. It wasn't anything new, that was the same look Slytherins always got. Deciding he wasn't really hungry anymore Harry excused himself and began to walk out of the Great Hall. He had almost made it when Longbottom stepped in front of him. He pushed the boy aside and made to keep going but was stopped when the boy spoke.

"Going to petrify some more innocent first year students you Snake?" For a second Harry was actually surprised by the malice in the boy who lived's voice. It didn't last long and he was not going to give him the satisfaction of being roped into a verbal argument and denying his claims. He turned to walk away when he heard Longbottom talk again.

"Not even going to deny it? Probably upset you didn't kill the little kid aren't you? Sick freakin' bastard. Well since you love your snakes so much try this SERPENSORTIA. " Harry turned on spot as soon as he heard the spell. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, a 3 foot black cobra shot out of the wand and started right at Harry. He did the first thing that came to mind.

"_Ssstop. Do not attack. "_And then he looked up. Dumbledore was out of his chair at the head table. He had his wand drawn and looked murderous. The students, minus Slytherin house, were shouting for Harry's blood. Harry did the only thing that made sense at the moment. He slammed his mind shields down and ran for it. He knew where he was going but he didn't know if he would make it with the angry Headmaster after him. Up the stairs he ran getting off on the second floor and bolting for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He barely made it in the door when he hissed _open. _Not even waiting for the stairs he threw himself into the hole and hissed _clossse. _ When he hit the bottom he was disgusted by the filth he had landed in, but at least he was safe. He climbed out of the pile and scourgified himself. It wasn't until he looked forward that he realized something was wrong. The door leading into the main chamber was open.

**Great Hall **

Neville was standing in shock. He didn't notice the Headmaster get up and chase after Potter. He didn't notice the students shouting. He didn't notice Professor Snape come forward and banish the black cobra still sitting on the floor. All he could think of was what he had just realized. He was a parseltongue. He didn't know how or why but he was. He had understood perfectly what Potter had said to that snake. He didn't know what to think of it. Parseltongue was supposed to be the sign of a dark wizard, but he was certainly not dark. He had defeated Voldemort for heaven's sake! No it just wasn't possible. No one could ever know he was a parseltongue. They wouldn't accept him if they thought he was dark. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Ron running up to him.

"Good one mate! You exposed that bastard for who he really was! I wish Hermione was here to see it, she'd be so proud."

"Wait, where is Hermione? I haven't seen her all morning. "Suddenly Neville had a very sick feeling in his stomach. Panic started to creep into his voice "Ron, where is Hermione?" She could be wandering the halls and get in the way of Potter. If Potter really was the heir then there was no telling what he would do to her. Ron seemed to be on the same page as him. The two friends shared a look and then they took off after Potter. They weren't exactly sure which way he had gone so they stopped in hopes of hearing some kind of battle or argument. And sure enough they heard the voice of Professor Dumbledore yell out "Harry!"

They went in the direction the voice had come from, but stopped when they caught up to the headmaster who was standing out the bathroom with a sad expression on his face. Neville spoke first

"Headmaster, what happened? Where did Potter go?"

"I'm afraid he escaped into the Chamber of Secrets my boys. The entrance is located in this very bathroom, unfortunately only a parseltongue has access to it. And no amount of magic could ever change that. " The Headmaster seemed to age years as he stared at the door to the bathroom.

"Sir, did Potter have Hermione with him? We haven't seen her all morning, and we're afraid he might have taken her."

Dumbledore seemed to contemplate it for a second "No, I can happily say that no one was with Mr. Potter when he entered the chamber. Have you checked the library yet? She is a frequent patron there after all."

"No, we haven't checked anywhere but here yet. We wanted to make sure Potter hadn't gotten her sir." Neville explained.

"That's very good of you boys, I'm glad you value your friends safety so much to put yourself in harm's way for her. It shows your Gryffindor traits are growing and leading you down the right path. "The boys beamed at the praise they received from the old man. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to go and try and figure out what to do about Mr. Potter." Neville watched as Dumbledore walked away and waited until he was out of ear shot before he turned to Ron.

"Ron, go to the library and see if Hermione is there. I'll stay here and try and catch Potter if he comes back out." Ron looked like he was about to protest so Neville cut him off, "no don't argue just do it." The red head sucked up his pride and took off in the direction of the stairs to get to the library.

Neville turned and entered into the bathroom. He was beyond nervous. As much as he hated to admit it Potter was powerful, more powerful than he was. Plus if he actually was the Heir then he had some unknown monster at his control. There was no telling what could happen to him once he entered the chamber. The headmaster had said the entrance was in the bathroom, but he didn't know exactly where. He was about to start searching for something to give away that an entrance may be behind it when a ghost floated out of a stall.

"GET OU…..OH! you're the boy-who-lived. You've come to see poor moaning myrtle! I don't get very many visitors." She was batting her eyelashes at him flirtatiously and he had to fight not to gag. Throwing on his charming (which really was more cute than anything since he is only 12) face Neville asked her if she knew where the entrance was.

"Oh yes, it's right this way." She floated towards one of the sinks, "Right on this faucet there's a little engraving. They always hiss at it when they want to get in. "

"Wait, you just said they? There is more than one heir?" Neville was suddenly very confused.

"No only one heir, but the browned haired girl was the one who opened the chamber first. She set the beast free! The boy who came after her told me he was going to make sure it didn't kill anyone, and he's kept his word."

Neville couldn't process what was going on. It was too messed up of a situation. How could Hermione possibly have opened the chamber, assuming she was the brown haired girl Myrtle was talking about. And then why would she set the beast on people, when she herself was a muggleborn. Something wasn't right here. He needed to get into the chamber and figure out what was going on and quick, because he had a feeling things weren't what everyone thought they were.

He thanked Myrtle for her help then ran over to the sink. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but then he saw something odd. A small green snake engraved on the underside of the faucet. He focused on the snake and tried the only thing he could think of. He said "open" , it took a few tries but eventually his words came out as a hiss and suddenly the sink started to part and reveal a giant hole in the floor. He was afraid now, but he knew what he had to do. He closed his eyes and jumped. He had enough time to hiss out "clossse" before he was surrounded in darkness.

**Back in the Chamber**

"Hello Tom." Harry's words echoed throughout the chamber and caused the controlled girl to whip around.

Her lips turned upward at the edges and formed an evil looking smile. "Hello Harry, it's been too long since we've gotten to talk." Without warning Hermione's wand was in her hand and a spell was flying at Harry. He threw himself to the side to avoid being hit, and barely had time to avoid the follow up spell that was cast at the spot he dove towards.

"Come down here to use the monster Harry? Are you perhaps jealous of the power I have, to put so much fright in an entire school. Even the great Albus Dumbledore is afraid of my monster. "Hermione let out a little laugh, but it wasn't that of a school girl. It was raspier and older sounding. The possession seemed to be getting stronger in Harry's opinion, which he didn't understand. The diary was gone how was he getting stronger!

He put on a confident tone and spoke, if anything he just needed some time to try and think of a way out of this situation. He knew he was powerful for his age, but his former mentor had so much experience there was no way he would be able to take him. Then he had an idea.

"Ssspeak to me Sssalazar Ssslytherin, Greatessst of the Hogwartsss Four." The mouth of the statue slid open just as it had last time.

"How dare you call my beast! Fine, I'll use it to destroy you now." Tom turned towards the beast and began to speak. "Dessstroy that boy he'sss an enemy of Ssslytherin." But to his surprise the monster didn't move.

"How daresss you try and ordersss me, the king of sserpentsss. Filthy mudblood witch, it isss yousss who isss the enemy." The basilisk reared up and then it struck down at Tom. Harry took the distraction and bolted for the exit. He wasn't stupid. When given the chance to survive he would take it. He was worth more than that mudblood Granger anyway. However, the last thing he expected was to see Longbottom running through the exit into the main chamber.

"Longbottom what the hell? Forget it, you'll explain later. We need to get out of here. "Harry was in a full sprint and his words were coming out broken due to his lack of air.

"Potter, what is going on? Why is Hermione fighting that giant snake!"

"Longbottom you moron, if you know what's good for you turn around and run back! That's a basilisk, and Granger is being controlled by Lord Voldemort. I told the serpent that Granger is a mudblood so it's now trying to kill her. I suggest you take this opportunity to escape with me. "Harry was getting impatient, especially since it looked like Tom was about to kill the basilisk any second. He had landed multiple spells to the creatures face and blinded it, and a couple inside its mouth to cut upwards to its brain.

"I can't just leave Hermione! I need to help her. "And with that said, Longbottom ran headlong to what Harry assumed was going to be his death. He wasn't going to die for a couple of Gryffindors. So he continued his run to the exit. He didn't turn to look back but he heard and felt the vibrations when the basilisk crashed into the ground dead. Now Tom's whole attention would be on Longbottom, the boy who had defeated him once. Harry didn't care though. He just kept running, hissed for the stairs as he got to the spot where he had landed earlier and never stopped moving till he safely reached the top and the sink opened.

He stepped out thinking he would have a few minutes to plan what to do next, but when he turned around Professor Snape was staring right at him.

"I hope you've thought of a way out of this situation Potter. "was all the man said.

"Professor, please call the headmaster. His precious golden child is about to be killed by the heir. Lord Voldemort took almost complete control of Granger and he killed the basilisk. Now it's just Longbottom and the dark lord in the chamber!" he had started calm but steadily got more excited as he explained what was happening.

Without a word Snape cast "expecto patronum" and a silvery animal formed, Snape said something to it and then it took off. It wasn't quite formed so Harry wasn't able to tell what animal it was.

A few seconds later a loud crack was heard right outside the bathroom door and then the Headmaster came barging in. As if it was planned Harry turned to the sink and hissed "open, ssstairss" . Without stopping the Headmaster sprinted into the chamber.

"Now Mr. Potter, what am I going to do with you? You've just exposed to the entire school that you are a parseltongue and now everyone seems to think you are the Heir. "

"I don't know sir, but I do have a question. Isn't Hogwarts warded against apparition?" he waited for the man to nod, "how did the headmaster do it then?"

"Mr. Potter is that really all you are interested in right now? He's the headmaster he is keyed into the wards so in case of a dire emergency he can be there in a second. I guess that would be a situation like this. " With his question answered, Harry decided he might as well get comfortable since he was going to be here until Dumbledore pulled Longbottom's dead body out of the chamber.

**Chamber of Secrets**

Neville had sounded a lot braver than he felt when he told Potter he wasn't leaving Hermione. As he rush towards his friend he watched as a sickly looking purple spell collided with the inside of the beast's mouth and cut right through the other side. The basilisk fell in slow motion and as it crashed into the ground Neville got his first good look at Hermione.

He stepped back in shock. Her eyes were glowing red. For the first time he thought that maybe he should of listened to Potter and ran for it.

"Who are you boy? Where is Potter?" Fear gripped Neville and he couldn't answer. He tried to step back again, but found that he was stuck in place. "I won't ask again boy! Who are you?"

"Hermione! It's me Neville, don't you remember me? We're best friends. " He was practically pleading now hoping that something would click for the girl and he would be safe.

For a second it seemed to have worked, Hermione's eyes flickered back to brown very quickly, before they were blood red again. She opened her mouth and that same voice came out " So this is the great boy who lived. The one who defeated me. Now look at you, reduced to pleading and begging. Almost in tears just because of my shadow. I will say this, at least I attacked you instead of Potter to fulfill that stupid prophecy! God knows he might actually have had the chance to defeat me when he gets older. You won't live much longer so I don't have to worry."

Neville was in full panic mode now. He wasn't ready to die, this wasn't how it was supposed to go! How could he be so weak! Then he heard it. The spell was said so lovingly, the word sounded so soft and pleasant. But the result was a thousand white hot knives digging into his skin as he fell to the ground screaming. His muscles were on fire and he couldn't do anything about it.

"Ah the cruciatus curse. The screams it elicits from its victims always soothe me. But it's just so uncreative. " Then he lifted the spell and Neville stopped screaming. Only for a second though as a blue spell collided with his arm and then the bone began to twist. It literally twisted until it broke in multiple places. The screams started again. And it looked like there would be no one to save Neville. Then the cruciatus came again. This time Tom walked closer, taunting him as he got nearer. Only a foot away from Neville, Tom stopped in place.

"Well I guess this is goodbye, I'd like to say you put up a fight, but you really didn't. Avada Kedav.." But he was cut off as a spell collided with his chest. The stunning spell had caught Tom off guard. He hadn't noticed the boy grab his wand as he got closer. He fell backwards into the darkness as the spell overcame him and cursed in his head, he had been so close.

Neville let his head droop and fought to stay conscious. He was so exhausted from the pain and then it took everything he had to cast that spell. But if he passed out now, there was a chance Voldemort woke up before him. He tried to stand but couldn't make it past his knees and his vision started to blur. He was slowly becoming very dizzy and that's when he saw the one man he needed most at the moment. The headmaster came into the chamber and raced towards him.

"Headmaster…its Hermione, she was the heir. Voldemort possessed her."

The only sign that Dumbledore was surprised by this news was the slight dilating of his pupils. He kept his tone neutral though. "That is terrible news, I can only hope we will be able to help your friend. But for now stop fighting the effects of magical exhaustion. I will get you back to the medical wing, and also begin working on curing your friend of her possession. " The boy nodded slightly and then his eyes closed. "Fawkes." A moment later a burst of fire lit up the chamber and a phoenix appeared, "take young Mr. Longbottom to the medical wing and then come back and get Miss Granger as well."

The bird trilled a note in agreement and then grabbed a hold of the boy and burst into flame. Dumbledore turned and started his walk out of the chamber. It seemed he had a very interesting conversation awaiting him with Mr. Potter. For the first time that day a smile graced his lips. How he loved interesting stories.

**Headmaster's Office**

Harry stood in the Headmaster's office looking around admiring the odd trinkets and books. He had already spent a good amount of time eyeing up the phoenix in the room. He had read a couple books that mentioned them. They were supposedly a bird of light. They had healing tears and a soothing or calming song. But there was a trick to it, the song would only calm someone who had never been exposed to the darker side of magic. If they had cast a dark spell then the song would be like nails on a chalkboard causing the person to cringe. Harry knew this was going to be the last year he would be able to hear the song without cringing. Quirrell had told him that by third year his shields would be developed enough to keep from becoming addicted to the dark arts and being driven insane by them. Now knowing that the headmaster had a phoenix Harry pledged he would do everything possible to avoid this office from now on.

Once he was done looking around the room and taking in his surroundings Harry turned back in the direction of the headmaster, being careful to avoid direct eye contact. He didn't put it past the headmaster to try and invade his mind. After a moment of awkward silence Dumbledore spoke.

"Mr. Potter it would seem I owe you an apology for chasing you out of the hall. I jumped to conclusions based on one fact and assumed you were the heir. I was wrong and for that I am deeply sorry." He paused until Harry nodded at him, "however I would like to know how exactly you came to find where the entrance to the chamber was and why you didn't report it." His tone was very serious as he said this.

"Well Headmaster, I found the entrance when I was out walking around once in the castle. I came across Moaning Myrtle and talked to her for a bit, eventually she came to tell me about how she died. And so I began looking at the sinks and then I found the small engraved snake in the faucet. "It was all said so well with no breaks that Harry knew his lie would work.

"Mr. Potter, what snake? I myself inspected those faucets and there is nothing on them… yes that must be it." Dumbledore smiled to himself as if he had figured out some great mystery, which he technically did.

"Pardon me, but what's it headmaster?" Harry may not like the man but he had to put on an act if he was going to get out of this one without the school thinking he was some evil wizard running around trying to kill everyone.

"The snake you see is probably only charmed so that those who speak the language can see it. "

This made sense to Harry and he nodded his head as if to accept it, "Well if that was all you needed I'd like to go back to my dorm and study some headmaster. I have a transfiguration exam tomorrow. "Harry got up and started walking to the door when he was stopped.

"Not quite Mr. Potter, you never told me why you didn't report the chamber. You knew there were attacks going on and that knowledge might have been used to stop them. "

"I may have known where the chamber was, but I had no idea how to call the beast forward. Every time I went down there the basilisk was nowhere to be found. It would have done no good to bring you down there only to find out the beast had to be summoned by an heir. Which if you are wondering it, it does. Only Tom was able to call the monster. Now goodnight Headmaster."

As the door closed behind the young Potter boy Dumbledore's brow furrowed, and Fawkes trilled a little note. "Yes Fawkes, I really don't know what to make of him. He seems to have had no ill intent by his actions. But I can't help but feel like there was more to it. No time now to think on it though. We have a young Gryffindor to free from possession. "

**Hospital Wing**

There was a buzzing noise as Neville started to wake up. Slowly the black spots faded from his vision and he could make out the people in the room gathered around another bed. That was fine by him; he didn't want to be bombarded with questions right now anyway. He had a killer headache. Unfortunately it seemed like someone had noticed him. "NEVILLE!" Ron yelled and ran over to his bed.

This drew the attention of everyone else. Neville only recognized a few people though. Ron, Dumbledore, and Snape. There were two more people, both with brown hair and dressed in muggle clothing that he had no idea who they were.

"It is good to see you awake my boy. You used a lot of your magic down in that chamber. I'm surprised to see you awake so fast actually. But that is a good sign that your magic core heals quickly. " Neville just nodded and smiled slightly at the headmaster.

"I would like to talk to Mr. Longbottom alone for a few minutes if you all don't mind." No one seemed ready to argue as they walked out the door and left the two alone in the room.

"Mr. Longbottom I know you just woke up, but I need you to tell me what you saw down in the chamber. "

Neville gulped and a little and swallowed the bad taste that came into his mouth thinking about how badly he'd misjudged the situation. Then he began to retell everything. He started with realizing he was a parseltongue and continued on. But stopped when he got to meeting Potter in the chamber.

"He's not the heir sir! Or at least not the one attacking people!"

"Yes I know my boy, I have already had the pleasure of talking to Mr. Potter and I will let the whole school know tomorrow he was in fact not the heir."

Neville nodded and continued on with his story. He finished up by telling how he managed to grab his wand without being noticed.

"Sir, what is going to happen to Hermione? Is she in trouble for what she did? And what about the possession is she cured yet?"

"Nothing will happen to your friend, far more powerful witches and wizards have been forced to do something they would not normally do by Lord Voldemort. And yes the possession is gone now, I had Professor Snape brew a potion to cure her. Now get some rest Mr. Longbottom, you are going to have a long day tomorrow explaining to all your friends what happened."

Things had worked out just how Dumbledore had wanted, even without his interference. Longbottom looked like a hero again. And by tomorrow everyone would know it.

The next few days were rough for Harry. Even though the announcement had been made that he was not the heir people still seemed to think this was somehow his fault. They blamed him for getting Granger possessed or thought he had somehow altered Dumbledore's memories. The rumors were amazing really. There was no limit to the ridiculousness of the people at this school. He had to really lock down on his mind shields to make sure he didn't lash out at anyone. Surprisingly it had been Draco who had given him a very welcome distraction.

"Hey Potter, so remember that letter we sent the Weaslette? Well I wrote her a couple of other times, and the last time I told my owl to stay so she could reply. I'm meeting her today at the astronomy tower. Want to come watch as I work my charm?" The two shared a smirk and took off towards the tower.

They got there before the Weasley girl did. So Harry found a spot to hide and watch as the events unfolded. Draco had decided he was going to sit with his back to the door and the hood of his cloak up so she couldn't tell who it was at first. About 10 minutes later the small redheaded girl walked through the door. She seemed very nervous. She just stood there looking at the hooded person in front of her. Then Draco got up and turned around, at the same time dropping his hood. The girl let out a gasp.

"You? But you're a Malfoy, you can't like me! Your family is evil! My brothers hate you!" She said this all in a rush as if not believing what was happening.

"How am I evil? And yes I am a Malfoy, and you're a Weasley. We're both pureblooded. "

She was about to start off another rant, probably spew out something else that had been forced into her head by her bigoted parents when she stopped and thought about it. Malfoy had never said or done anything in his letters that made her think he could be evil.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you, you probably don't even like me now because I just made such an idiot of myself!" She seemed about in tears, and then Malfoy went up and hugged her.

"Relax, I still like you. To prove it to you tomorrow we'll walk together to breakfast. We can hold hands as we walk in."

This seemed to make her brighten up and she bobbed her head excitedly.

"I have to go now, we have a test tomorrow, but I will see you in the morning. Goodnight my dear." Malfoy kissed her forehead lightly and then walked out of the tower.

In his head Harry couldn't stop laughing. It had all worked so well, tomorrow that Weasley boy was going to flip out.

Once the girl had left Harry climbed out of his hiding spot and began his walk back to the dungeons. He couldn't help but to think about what had happened in the Chamber. He had run, granted rationally he knew there was no other choice. However, he couldn't believe how weak he was. He needed a mentor again. Someone who could teach him how to be strong. For the first time in a long time he thought about his first mentor. The man turned out to be one of the darkest wizards of the century yet he had taught him so much. He needed to do some research on other dark wizards. He needed to find someone who could teach him the dark arts next year. As if on autopilot while he was lost in his thoughts his feet guided him down the stairs, but when he finally realized where he was, he was standing outside the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He walked in and opened the chamber. He walked down the stairs and closed the chamber entrance. He didn't know exactly why he was going down here, but it felt right to be in the chamber. As he walked into the main chamber the first thing that he noticed was the carcass of the basilisk. It was sad to see such a magnificent creature dead. He walked up and noticed something small and white lying next to its mouth. As he got closer he noticed that it was a small tooth. One of the back teeth had been knocked out of the mouth. He bent down and picked it up. It wasn't quite small enough to make into something he could wear and he was about to throw it down when he noticed it had just of enough curve to make a handle. If he could hollow it out somehow he might be able to slide his wand into it. In one hand he held his wand and in the other he held the tooth. Putting the tip of his wand directly against the top of the tooth he concentrated on exactly what he wanted to happen.

The tip of the wand glowed red and slowly the wand pushed into down into the tooth as if melting it away. It was a slow process, but he finally made it deep enough to cover the whole handle of the wand. He was sweating a little from the effort of pushing out raw magic with no actual spelt to guide its intent. It took a little bit of force but he was able to slide the black wand into the hole he had drilled in the white tooth. He gave it a couple twirls and then flicked his wrist and cast a reducto spell at the wall to make sure the wand wouldn't fly out of the new handle and that it still cast. Satisfied with that he walked away from the basilisk towards the statue where the beast had come out of. With a silent _lumos_ his wand lit up and he began to walk in the mouth. He was curious to see exactly where it led. This was Slytherin's personal chamber surely there was more to it than an elaborate statue and a basilisk. He followed the tunnel for what felt like a mile until he finally came to a door similar to the one that led into the main chamber. He hissed _open_ and watched as the doors slid apart.

This time instead of an elaborate chamber with a giant statue there was a medium sized room with a desk, table, cauldron, and a couple shelves full of jars. The only other thing in the room was a portrait frame hanging on the wall behind the desk. Curious as to what was moving in the picture Harry cautiously stepped into the room. Something wasn't right about all this. Slytherin was a proud man. Surely his work space would have been something elaborate. Nothing happened and he found himself in front of the portrait frame. What he saw surprised him. It was a map of Hogwarts, every floor and secret passage. However there were a bunch of random green dots running around it. Except they weren't random. Each one was labeled with a name of a student in Slytherin. Also on the map were the professors, they were blue dots though.

Harry wasn't much of a suck up, he couldn't think of any use for the map, but knew that Professor Snape would love it so he could keep a watch on his students. Carefully he reached up to see if he could lift the portrait away from the wall. To his surprise it came right off. Behind the portrait though was a passage. He shrunk down the portrait and climbed in. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but suddenly he was very interested in finding out exactly here this chamber ended. The passage seemed to be climbing upwards so he could only assume that he was headed back to somewhere in the castle. It was only a short time before he found himself pushing against a wooden floor board and coming up into an abandoned room. This room was different than the other though. It was slightly bigger, and half of it looked like a work area for brewing and spell casting, and the other half had a bed and wardrobe. Both styled in green and silver. With the Slytherin crest proudly hanging from the bed. There was no door into the room. Only a wall with a stone snake head, doing the only thing he thought was logical Harry hissed _open_. To his surprise the wall opened just big enough to get out. As he passed through it quickly slid back into place behind him. When he looked around he found himself in the dungeons. He was actually in the hall that led to his dorms. There was a stone snake head on this side of the wall to. He had to pass it every day.

"Wow..I was just in Slytherin's private quarters!" Harry didn't show emotion much but he was so excited to have discovered a place he could go without being disturbed. There were no portraits in this hallway so no one, not even Dumbledore would be able to find him. He reeled in his emotions and schooled his features to a mask of neutrality before someone else saw and asked what was up. Then he started the walk to Snape's classroom so he could hand over the portrait/map he had found.

It about a 5 minute walk until he found himself in front of the classroom doors. Out of respect for his head of house's privacy he knocked on the doors. He could hear the footsteps from inside he classroom and stepped back a little from the door. It swung open to reveal an irate looking Professor Snape.

"Who is it and what do you…..Mr. Potter. What do you want boy?" His voice wasn't as annoyed when he said the last part.

"Sir I found something I think you might find to be useful. May I step inside? I don't want anyone else overhearing or seeing. It might arouse suspicions about me, and I've already got enough rumors."

With his interest piqued Snape stepped aside and let Harry pass into the classroom. "Well Mr. Potter it is late and I'm busy preparing for classes tomorrow what is this object that you seem to think I would love to have?"

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the frame he laid it on one of the desks and made it return to its original size. Then he stepped aside so Snape could get a good look at it. The professor looked confused for a second then a look of understanding came across him and he did something Harry had never seen before, Snape smiled.

"Well Mr. Potter you were right. This is definitely a useful tool. Might I inquire as to where you picked this up? I've never seen anything quite like it."

Harry just smirked and said, "We all have our secrets Professor. This is one I'd prefer not to give up if you would be so kind as to not press the subject." He knew Snape already had guessed he'd been in the chamber again, but there was no reason for him to confirm it.

"Very well. If there is nothing else…." But Harry cut him off.

"Actually sir, I was wondering if you knew where I could find someone to teach me some magic that isn't taught at school." He said it fast, not quite sure how his professor would take it.

Snape just looked at him for a second curiously and then spoke, "Well if you're referring to the type of magic I think you are then perhaps you won't have to look very far. Tell me Mr. Potter how much do you know of your parents death?"

"Not much sir, Professor Quirrell told me a follower of the Dark lord had killed them when I was young. But that's about it."

"That is true, but there is more to it than just that. Come back tomorrow for a lesson and I will tell you the full story of the night your parents died. "

"Alright sir, I'll see you tomorrow then."

And with that Harry left the classroom and headed back to the dorms. He hadn't expected anyone to be up but to his surprise, Blaise and Daphne were sitting in the common room. It seemed like they had been waiting for him because they got up when he entered.

"Harry! Where you been ? Daph and I were worried. We haven't seen you since classes and Malfoy said the last time he saw you was before he went to the astronomy tower."

Part of Harry was happy someone was worried about him, but the other half was annoyed that they were demanding to know where he'd been. He didn't need someone to keep tabs on him.

"I was just out walking around the castle, and then I was talking to Professor Snape. You guys didn't have to stay up and wait for me like I'm some baby."

Daphne looked hurt from his comment and he slightly regretted it. But he needed them to understand that he didn't want to be treated like less than them. And secretly maybe part of him was a little upset that he had been traded for Blaise. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

Blaise went to say something but Harry cut him off "Look I don't want to talk about it tonight. I'm just going to grab my stuff from our room and then I'll see you guys in the morning." He had decided he was going to be staying in Slytherin's quarters from now on.

"Wait where are you staying if you aren't staying in the room?" Blaise was genuinely confused.

"It's none of your business." And Harry walked by him and up the staircase.

For the first time Daphne spoke, "Blaise what's wrong with him? Why is he acting like this? "

"I don't know Daph but I'm sure he'll come around if we give him some space. Maybe he just needs to blow off some steam." He pulled her close and gave her a kiss on the forehead to reassure her.

A few minutes later Harry came down the stairs and walked by them and out the common room door without saying anything.

"Should we follow him?" Daphne asked.

"No, we'll see him in the morning like he said. I'm sure he has somewhere safe and comfortable stay. Let's go to bed, tomorrow looks like it's going to be a long day for us and we have that test."

With that the two hugged goodnight and went to their rooms each worried about their friend.

Harry opened his eyes and at first wasn't sure where he was, then he remembered exactly where he was. He was lying in Salazar Slytherin's bed. He cast a tempus spell and realized it was still early so he had time to look around the room a bit. Last night he had just placed his trunk at the bottom of the bed, changed and then fallen right asleep. He was curious now though as to what exactly was in the room. The first place he wanted to look was the wardrobe. As with everything else it had a parseltongue locking system so he hissed and made it open. To his surprise there were robes hanging up. Not just any robes. But very fancy robes, dress robes they looked like. One was a deep emerald green with a silver trim. The Slytherin Crest was stitched into the back in silver as well. The other dress robe was a black robe with a green trim and the Slytherin crest stitched in silver on the front of the robe and a design made of moving snakes down the back. He would have loved to wear one, but they were clearly too big for him now. Maybe in a few years he would fit in them. For now he would have his house elf take them back to his house. On the floor of the wardrobe was a small box. Harry picked it up and opened it. Inside were two silver cuff links with green emeralds in them. He pulled used a cutting spell on the links to free the emeralds. He had an idea to use them for but he would have to do more research to find the right spells first.

That was all for the contents of the wardrobe. It was less than he had expected. And suddenly he was beginning to doubt the stories about how Slytherin was full of himself and a wizard who liked to show off. It seemed like he just wanted his space and only had what was necessary. He walked to the other side of the room and began to look through the jars on the shelves near the work station. It seemed like just a bunch of potion ingredients. Judging by the fact that most still looked good he would guess the jars had some stasis spell on them. Well this certainly helped if he wanted to brew potions for himself, or maybe his friends and allies someday.

As he was walking back towards the side of the room with the bed he felt uneasy. Almost as if he was being watched. He looked around and that's when he saw it. A slight depression in the wall near the wardrobe. He walked up to it, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up letting him know something just didn't feel right. He gave the wall a push and it swung up. It was actually a door disguised as part of the wall. It opened up into what appeared to be a room with a giant tub. The whole thing was lined with giant stones, but when he got closer they were radiating heat. That's when he heard it the sound of something coming at him from behind and he cursed in his head for not being more careful. He didn't have enough time to whip around before he felt the two fangs puncture his back.

A burning sensation immediately spread throughout the area. He fell to his knees mid turn and came face to face with a smaller version of the basilisk from the chamber. This one was maybe 6 feet long and 8 inches wide.

"_Acccccept the bondingsss human or the venom from my fangsss will killsss you."_

"_How do I accccept them?" _The pain was becoming unbearable and his vision was getting spotty.

"_Ussse your magic, let it feel out the venom and embracccce it."_

Doing his best to ignore the pain he was in Harry let his magic spread throughout his body and concentrate on the spot he was bit. Once it had fully wrapped around the venom he pulled the magic back and the venom seemed to spread throughout his body, but then the pain stopped.

"_Very good human, yousss hasss accepted the bonding. Now I can grow again."_

"_Wait you bit me and nearly had me die sssso you could grow bigger?" Harry hissed back angrily._

"_Yessss, I had sensed the other sssserpent king that wasss guarding the chamber had passed. There for I needed to bond so I could have a wizardssss magicsss in my body and grow just asss big asss him. That issss all I required. Youss issss now immune to all venomsss and some minor poisssonss."_

"_Ssso that'ss all you required? You aren't going to try and follow me around of anything dumb like that? Well I can deal with that. "_

"_I am the king of serpentssss not ssssome sssstupid pet. I guard masterssss chamber that isss my only duty. Now goodbye human, maybe we will meet again sssoon."_ With that last statement made the basilisk slithered off in the direction of a pipe opening in the back of the room. It was just big enough for him to get through, which was reassuring because he wouldn't be able to get back in this room if he started growing like he said he was going to.

Harry just shook his head. All the strange things always happened to him. Well at least now he had a heated tub. Casting another tempus spell he cursed when he noticed he was probably going to be late for breakfast. He sprinted towards the snake head and stopped. He didn't want just anyone seeing him coming out of here. He asked the snake if anyone was in the hallway, it replied no so he quickly opened it and made a run for the Great hall. It wasn't until he got there that he remembered the two giant bite marks in his robes. He cast a repair on them so they would stitch themselves back together before he went in. It was a temporary fix, but he was just trying to avoid any questions.

"Harry!" He turned around to see Draco coming up to him. But it wasn't just Draco. No what he saw made Harry crack a genuine smile/smirk. Ginny Weasley was holding his hand and they were about to walk into the Great Hall together. Harry fell in behind them to watch the show. Conversation stopped as soon as they walked in. In the back of his head Harry took notice of how they did that a lot lately. Malfoy walked her all the way to Gryffindor table and sat her down right next to her brother. Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead before he started to walk off. And that was when Weasley got over his shock and the anger took over. He charged straight at Malfoy's back. In a second Harry's wand was out and a spell was flying before anyone could stop him. The spell caught the Weasley boy full on in the chest and next thing he was being flipped up into the air by his ankle and dangling there.

"Tsk tsk Weasley, you shouldn't try and attack people of my status from behind." Malfoy taunted the boy, "after all someone is always watching out for me." He nodded in Harry's direction to show his thanks. Harry was about to nod back when the hairs on his neck stood up and he threw himself to the ground just as a stunning spell flew over his head. Not wasting any time he got up and spun on his heel firing off a cutting spell in the direction of his attacker. Longbottom had seen his friend get attacked and did the only thing he thought rational. Get his attacked back. Unfortunately for him he chose the wrong person to attack. He wasn't as skilled or as quick as Harry. So instead of getting out of the way the cutting curse hit his wand arm opening up a nice gash. He let out a gasp of pain, but managed to not let go of his wand.

He fired off a disarming spell at Harry who just sidestepped and then fired a tripping jinx at Longbottom the boy managed to get out of the way of the tripping jinx only to be hit full on by the underpowered blasting hex Harry had sent at him. He could feel the bruising on his ribs and sternum starting almost instantly as he was lifted off the ground and thrown backwards towards the Hufflepuff table. Luckily for him he came up short of crashing into it. That was the end of the mini duel because Professors Snape and McGonnagall came rushing down along with the Headmaster to step between the boys.

"Mr. Longbottom for your attempt to attack Mr. Potter you will be given a month's worth of detention." Snape spoke first.

"What about Mr. Potter, surely he deserves some punishment look what he did to Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom!" McGonnagall wanted the boy to receive punishment but seemed to have overlooked the important parts. Fortunately the headmaster did not.

"Minevra Mr. Potter was simply defending his friend and himself. He did nothing wrong. Therefore he cannot be punished for his actions. However I would hope you at least apologize to Mr. Longbottom for that last hex. It was a bit brutal."

"Certainly sir, I'll go do it now." Harry smirked and walked over to Longbottom. He knelt down and whispered so only he could hear, "that's two for me and zero for you. I told you you wouldn't beat me. You may know spells and be more powerful than our other year mates, but you don't know how to fight or use those spells properly. You're nothing compared to me and never will be." With that done Harry grabbed a few pieces of toast off the Hufflepuff table and walked out of the Great Hall. He didn't feel like being stared at for the rest of breakfast. Malfoy decided to follow his lead and ran out after him. The two walked in silence up to the transfiguration classroom. Once they got there Malfoy bust out laughing.

"That was great Harry! You made that arse look like an idiot in front of everyone. Boy-who-lived, expected to beat the big bad Dark Lord can't even beat a 2nd year. Priceless wait till my father hears about this one."

Harry didn't say anything he just nodded his head in a silent agreement. Malfoy didn't seem to accept this and asked what was wrong. "Nothing Draco, so what are you going to do with the Weaslette? Keep her around or get rid of her? "

This question caught Draco of guard but he recovered after a second and seemed to think it over before he opened his mouth, "I think I'll get rid of her. I just wanted to get a reaction out of that red headed idiot brother of hers. Tomorrow when she comes up to me I'll just ignore her and walk away."

"Good you don't need anything to make Daddy mad at you after all, and I highly doubt your father would approve of a Weasley." Harry smirked at his friend as he saw him shiver a little.

"No he definitely would not, which is why I wrote to him to tell about the plan, so in case he heard it before I told him I wouldn't be disowned. He thought it was marvelous and couldn't wait to hear about the results. I'll write him tonight and let him know all about it."

The two sat silently for the rest of the time waiting for class to start. They were some of the best students in transfiguration for their year and didn't even bother to review for the test. They finished the test faster than everyone else in the class except the mudblood Granger. She had been cured of her possession and allowed to return to classes. It looked like she didn't even feel guilty for being so dumb and letting herself get possessed. As soon as she recognized what was happening she should have gotten rid of the diary. Harry had done it why couldn't she.

"How's it feel to be used Granger?" Harry's words caused her to flinch, "is it good to know you were so weak you couldn't fight off a possession when you didn't even have the object anymore? Or that you were too stupid to realize what was happening and get rid of it sooner? No you just poured your pathetic mudblood heart onto those pages and let the Dark Lord take over your mind. Damn I wish that you had killed an actual witch or wizard and been charged for it. God knows you deserve to be behind bars for being so stupid."

Malfoy seemed surprised at the viciousness in Harry's voice, but he couldn't help but smile knowing his friend truly had a hatred for mudbloods. It would make explaining to his father how a Potter had become his ally ten times easier. When he looked back at Granger she had tears in her eyes and her fists were clenched.

She didn't say anything, instead she just ran off. Harry recognized something had changed in him since the beginning of the year, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. He was angrier now. Even without a reason he seemed to get angry, just like he had with Blaise and Daphne last night. He needed to apologize to them for that. He wasn't sure why he had been so cross, but it had just felt like the right thing to do at the time.

"Malfoy you can go ahead and go back to the common room if you want, I need to wait for Blaise and Daphne. I have something to talk to them about. "Malfoy nodded and then walked in the direction of the staircase. Harry didn't have to wait much longer for his other two friends to come out of the room.

"Blaise, Daphne can I talk to you guys?"

"Sure Harry what's up?" Blaise was the one to answer as Daphne moved a little bit closer to him so there arms were touching.

"I wanted to apologize for last night, I shouldn't have been so angry at you two. You were just worried about me. I just don't like to be babied nor have people feel like they need to know where I am all the time."

"We understand Harry. It's just that we hadn't seen you in a long time, and we haven't been talking very much in general so we wanted to make sure everything was okay." Daphne spoke to him this time.

"Yeah everything is fine; I've just been really busy lately. You know studying and all that crap? Oh and being the heir of Slytherin. That's a demanding task, going out of my way to petrify all the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs!" He made it into a joke so the situation was a little lighter and was happy to see his friends smile.

"Well enough of this, I'm hungry and we're done with classes for the day! Let's go get lunch, and then after that we can go write that potions essay for Snape due tomorrow." Blaise practically dragged the two in the direction of the Great Hall.

"_Maybe everything will be okay after all." _Harry thought as he saw his two friends smiling and laughing as they walked to the hall.

As Harry walked into the Potions classroom later that night he was slightly nervous but mostly excited. Not just for the new lessons but also to learn about what had happened to his parents.

"Take a seat Mr. Potter. I'll start by telling you what happened to your parents. " Snape paused for a moment so he could take his seat, " now understand that your father was very popular he had a lot of friends. But he had three very close friends. They were Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and the infamous Sirius Black. The night they were killed all of them were at the house except for Remus Lupin. He along with Sirius Black are the only two remaining alive out of that group. Everyone believes that on that night Sirius Black killed your parents and Pettigrew, he was about to kill you as well but Remus arrived and stunned him. He was never afforded the right to a trial. Which is why no one but the Dark Lord's followers know the truth."

"What is the truth sir?" Harry was confused it sounded like they had the right guy in prison.

"The truth is that Peter Pettigrew was a death eater tasked with killing you and your family. He would have been successful if Black hadn't become weak at the end. Yes, Black was a death eater also. Neither knew that the other was at the time, and Black had plans to bring you back to the Dark Lord to raise as a warrior. So he killed Pettigrew and that's when Lupin arrived."

Harry thought this over a moment and then asked the main thing that was bothering him, "So it's this Remus Lupin's fault I was raised at that orphanage? I could have had a family, and been raised in a magical environment?" His anger was boiling so he slammed down on his shields before he exploded on his professor.

"Well, yes in a way it is. But aren't you mad at Black or Pettigrew?"

"At Pettigrew, yes I loathe the man. He was the one who killed my parents after all. But I have no idea whether or not Black intended to do that. He could of simply kidnapped me and left my parents alive. "

Snape nodded his understanding at the boy, "Well if that's how you feel then perhaps you should put together a case for Black. You have enough money to get a lawyer that could get him a trial and freed from Azkaban. Azkaban is the wizarding prison. It's guarded by creatures called dementors that will suck out your soul and leave you a lifeless husk. It is a fate far worse than death in my opinion."

"Sir, why would I want to do that?"

"Black was one of the best at the dark arts. And you had expressed an interest in a mentor that could teach you some of the magics that are left out of our school curriculum. He would be your best bet at not being betrayed. Especially with your hatred of muggles and mudbloods. "

"Then that is what I will do, I will ask Draco about the best lawyer out there. I am sure he or his father knows who I could use. I'll have him arrange for it to look like Sirius killed Pettigrew while trying to defend me. That should get him excused of the crime and set free."

"Very well now that that is settled let us begin on your lessons. I am going to teach you a new spell. This one isn't offensive in nature. It's actually a normal spell that could be used to save your life, or the life of someone else. Follow me Mr. Potter, for this lesson we need to go somewhere a little bit higher up."

Harry was confused but followed his professor anyway. They were walking towards the astronomy tower. Harry wanted to make a joke about being taken up here to be snogged or something, but thought Snape probably wouldn't appreciate it. Once they reached the top Snape went over to the window.

"I'm going to teach you a spell called aresto momentum. It slows down the speed of an object or person falling from a great height. For example, if I were to throw this chair out the window." He lifted the chair and tossed it, Harry moved close to watch it plummet, but then he heard the spell "_aresto momentum"_ and to his surprise the chair seemed to come to almost a complete stopped before it touched the ground unharmed.

"Wow, that's amazing! So that can be used on humans as well sir?" Harry was excited for the possibilities this spell brought.

"Yes it can, but it is going to take you a lot of practice before you can successfully stop a human. Let's start with something a little smaller for now. For example grab that bowl of there and toss it. "

Harry did as he was told and then cast the spell, at first nothing seemed to happen and then it smashed into the ground. He wasn't disappointed as he knew all spells took practice, instead he just grabbed another one and repeated the process. It took a good three hours, but by the time there lesson was over Harry was able to stop the chair like Professor Snape had done.

He left the lesson feeling satisfied with what he had accomplished. Once he practiced with the spell a little more and got a little stronger he'd have one more way of making sure he couldn't be injured. And if necessary he'd be able to get out of a situation by jumping from heights now. It wasn't long before he found himself in front of the snake head statue and was opening the door into his new room. Part of him was worried about sleeping in the room after being bit by the basilisk. He was afraid it might come back to finish him while he slept. His more rational half won out though and he knew the snake simply needed to serve its purpose and was now bound to guard the main chamber. As usual he was exhausted from expending so much energy trying to learn the new spell. He barely had time to get under the covers before he was fast asleep.

With the chamber of secrets closed, and no more attacks the school returned to normal and the year started to go by fast. Harry continued his lessons with Professor Snape learning more spells and even some potions. He was curious as to what had become of the diary, but when he asked all he was told was it wasn't his concern now and to not worry about it. He had fixed his friendship with Blaise and Daphne mostly, they were back to talking and hanging out, but there was still some tension and unease they could all feel. He had become closer with Draco, especially after he had destroyed the Weaslettes dreams. Harry laughed as he remembered that day.

**Flashback**

_Harry walked towards the Great Hall, but stopped when he saw Malfoy and sure enough the Weaslette was walking up to him. She went to hug him but he held her away and looked at her disgusted. "What are you trying to do? You disgusting blood traitor. You really thought I liked you? I was only using you to make our brother look like an idiot." He laughed cruelly and then he noticed Harry watching the scene. Harry smirked and walked over to them. _

"_Draco I think you broke her heart. She's about to cry, dating all of like 2 days and she's upset. It's not even worth your tears girl. Just move on." And then the two of them walked off. They heard her start to sob a little, and part of Harry wanted to apologize for how they acted. He just couldn't do it though, to be sorry was to be weak. And he was not going to be weak ever again. _

**End Flashback**

It was almost the end of the year and Harry was relaxing on the grass after he had just finished his first exam, which had been Defense Against the Dark Arts. It had been so simple it was ridiculous. Unfortunately for them Lockhart was never replaced and they were stuck with an idiot of a teacher. They could only hope that Dumbledore had found someone better for next year. Blaise and Daphne were laying out relaxing with him, when they heard the rustling of wings and feathers. Hedwig came and plopped on Harry's stomach causing the wind to be knocked out of him.

Harry had just come to accept this was the type of relationship he was going to have with his owl. It seemed to take great pride in causing discomfort to him. After he caught his breath he went to grab the letter tied to its leg and received a sharp peck on the hands.

"Ouch! Ruddy bird, give me my letter!" Hedwig just looked at him expectantly. He sighed and realized she probably wanted a treat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few, "here you go girl. NowS may I please have my letter?" He was practically begging the owl and his friends were dying of laughter at seeing the number one wizard in their year reduced to begging by a bird. He ignored then and was glad he received a little hoot, and then proceeded to quickly grab his letter and open it.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I am writing to inform you that the matter you had written me about has been resolved. The defendant will be freed come June 1__st__. He has requested to meet with you as soon as possible. He enclosed an envelope that contains his address, his home is under the fidelius charm which keeps people who have not received the password from the keeper of the secret from knowing where the home is. Once you have read the address, please burn it and banish the scraps. The money required for my services and my commission has been withdrawn from your Gringotts bank account and will be shown in your monthly bank statement. Looking forward to working with you in the future._

_Sincerely,_

_Charles Rotwood_

_Wizarding Lawyer_

Harry smiled a little as he read the letter. He was happy that his money hadn't been wasted on the lawyer, but also happy he now had a mentor for the next year. This was going to be one of his crucial years coming up. What he learned and how he learned it could make or break him. He wanted to write to Sirius to let him know exactly why he had set him free.

"Hey I got something I have to do guys. I'll see you later tonight okay?" Without waiting for a response Harry took off running for the castle. He was heading up towards the owlery where Hedwig had chosen to stay, probably cause it was the tallest tower in the castle and meant he had to climb hundreds of stairs. He was walking by a classroom when he heard some strange noises coming from inside it. Normally he would have ignored it and gone by, except there seemed to be muffled screams and sobs. As he got closer to the door he heard a "No!" shrieked in a girl's voice and that was all it took for him to fling the door open.

The sight before him would be forever burned into his mind. Professor Lockhart had a pretty Ravenclaw girl by the name of Cho Chang pinned on the desk. Her robes were lifted up in the back, and the professors pants were off. Harry saw red. He knew what was about to happen, and he planned on making the filth pay. Without meaning to do so he summoned Cho to him and told her to fix herself and leave the room. The anger was so great that sparks were popping at the end of his wand.

"Well Mr. Potter it seems you have ruined my fun for today. I guess it's alright who knows how many more memory charms she could have taken. You know that's the secret to keeping secrets. Just make the other person forget what they shouldn't remember. Just like you're about to, _Obliviate."_

Harry didn't even blink when he batted away the professor's spell with his wand. The man had just admitted to raping a student more than once. He was going to pay. In blood. Harry fired off the cutting curse professor Snape had taught him. Lockhart tried to shield against it, but the shield was cleaved and part of the spell still caught his arm. He didn't have time to recover as another cutting spell hit his left arm and cut it to the bone. He yelled in pain and then found himself silenced. Ropes shot out of Harry's wand and tied him up. There was nothing he could do now. Helplessly he watched as the point transfigured some of the objects in the room in little tiny needles, and then sent them flying straight at him. The needles pierced his skin all at once and then were summoned back causing little blood spots to form. He thought maybe that was it, but was mistaken when he heard the word _bombardo_ leave Potter's mouth. The last thing he would ever remember was looking up into the green eyes of Harry Potter. They were so dark it was they were turning black.

Harry for his part watched with morbid fascination as his hex collided with Lockhart's ribs and chest and the bones crushed and organs ruptured inside his body. The man died within a couple minutes from internal bleeding. It was definitely the slow and painful death he deserved. It was after all this that Harry's mind started to rationalize what he had just done.

"Shit! I just killed a professor! Shit! What I am I going to do!" Then he stopped. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He needed a way to get rid of the evidence. He quickly cast a scourgify on all the blood spots in the room. He repaired any damages to the desks he had done. Then he set Lockhart's body ablaze. The smell was terrible as the skin burned and Harry had to cover his mouth and nose. He just hoped he would be able to finish this before someone came to see what the smell was about. He could only assume Cho had gone and told someone what happened. Which meant he only had a minute or two left. The body burned into a pile of ash leaving just a few bones still intact. He quickly gathered it all up and then scourgified the spot where the body had burned. Knowing his time was almost up he sprinted for the door and made a run for it. He didn't want to be seen running from that direction when someone was going to check out what was happening. He ducked into an unused classroom as soon as he heard footsteps. Sure enough Professor Flitwick, the head of Ravenclaw came sprinting past the door. As soon as he turned another corned Harry bolted from his hiding spot. He just needed to make it to the chamber. Then he could dump the evidence there and no one would be able to prove anything.

Luck seemed to be on his side as he didn't run into anyone else as he reached the bathroom. He threw the door open and the chamber entrance was barely open when he threw himself in. Hissing out _clossse_ as he fell. Then he decided to try something else. "Aresto momentum!" And to his surprise, he slowed down slightly. Not fully like the objects had but enough that he didn't come crashing down into the pile of filth like last time. He dumped the bag out and then scourgified the inside of it. He held his wand out and wandlessly he cast a spell he had been taught to clear his spell casting history. He then cast the spells he remembered from the defense exam. With everything done, he was sure they wouldn't be able to prove anything. A mask of neutrality firmly on his face he called for the stairs and began his walk back up to meet whoever would be looking for him. He was sure that he was going to be seeing the Headmaster in a bit and he still had a letter to write after all.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N Just a quick filler chapter. Sorry took so long, I'm working on a much longer chapter for the next update. It'll include most of the summer between second and third year because well…all the fun stuff happens at Hogwarts for now.

Harry walked out the front doors and looked in the direction where his friends had been earlier. Sure enough they were still lying there. He quickly headed towards them hoping not to be spotted leaving the castle in such a hurry. Luck didn't seem to be on his side though. He took a few steps before he heard the voice of Dumbledore.

"Mr. Potter! I see you are trying to relax with your friends after your exam, but may I bother you for a minute of your time?"

Harry was cursing in his head. He cleared his mind and set his face to a confused expression before he turned around to face the old man. "Certainly sir, what do you need to talk to me about?"

Dumbledore didn't think himself a fool. He knew Potter had mind shields, if not natural ones then the boy had developed them on his own. He had tried to subtly probe him one or twice only to find nothing but a black sky. He couldn't have gotten much further without alerting the boy so he had chosen to just pull out. But it made it extremely difficult to tell when the boy was lying or being honest. In a way he already knew the outcome of this conversation, and that was what worried him the most. If the boy had indeed harmed Lockhart then surely he would feel remorseful, but the young man who stood in front of him now seemed completely calm and genuinely confused.

"Mr. Potter, I would like to talk to you about the incident which you walked in on earlier. Involving a certain defense teacher and one of the older Ravenclaw girls. Can you tell me what happened exactly?" The Headmaster was scanning for any hint of emotion and was more than slightly disappointed to find there was nothing.

"You mean where I walked in and found one of YOUR professors raping an innocent young girl. Then the bastard had the nerve to admit he'd been doing it all year long and memory charming her. THEN he attempted to memory charm ME. Is that the incident you're talking about headmaster?" Harry wasn't about to let the man get off without some type of guilt for not checking up on the people he hired.

The pure disgust and anger coming from the Potter boy had Dumbledore worried. He couldn't have the young man thinking ill of him or the light side this early on. Younger students were very impressionable and he needed to make sure that Potter was on the side of the light in case Neville were to fail in defeating Voldemort. Then he could simply convince people the prophecy had said that Potter would defeat Voldemort. No, as much as he wanted to yell at the boy and discipline him for his tone he simply couldn't.

"Please mind your tone with me. I am deeply sorry for what has happened to Miss Chang and have already agreed to let her attend Hogwarts tuition free for the rest of her years here. And offered a formal apology to her and her family on behalf of the school. I had no way of knowing what was going on behind closed doors. But now let us get down to what we both know I want to talk to you about. What happened to Gilderoy? Surely you stayed long enough to find out where he was going."

If Dumbledore had been worried before about the face of confusion and calm attitude Harry had then when Harry smirked and laughed a little he was unnerved.

"Headmaster I told you the bastard attempted to memory charm me. I dodged out of the way of it and then he ran past me into the hallway. By the time I got up I wasn't able to figure out which way he went." The lie was smooth, but Dumbledore must have been expecting something along those lines.

"That's not the truth and we both know it. No one saw Mr. Lockhart leave his classroom, let alone the castle. So how about the truth this time Harry?"

"Well headmaster that is as much as I know. Perhaps he is hiding out somewhere waiting to escape in the night. But all I know is that he ran for it when he realized his memory charm tactic had failed." Without waiting to be dismissed Harry walked past Dumbledore deciding he didn't want to be outside anymore and would just go back to his new room and practice some spells to relax himself for the inevitable conversation and barrage of questions his friends would have for him about why the headmaster had been talking to him.

"One more thing before you go Mr. Potter! May I see your wand? I just need to test it to see what spells you've cast recently. This will clear you of any involvement in Mr. Lockhart's disappearance after all." Dumbledore was smiling on the inside thinking that he had caught the boy. However his happiness was short lived when the boy turned and tossed him the wand as if he had nothing to hide. It was once Dumbledore had cast the spell and the only thing that came up were basic spells used in the exam that the students had had today that he realized he'd been beaten. With no spells to back up his claim there was no way he would be able to hold a punishment against the boy. He made one last effort to reach the boy and get something out of him.

"Harry, are you sure there is nothing you want to tell me? You seemed to be bothered by this a lot, but remember you can talk to me about these things."

Harry seemed to think it over for a few seconds before he replied, "Thank you for the offer headmaster but I'm not bothered by anything except the fact that you couldn't even keep one of your professors in line. Have a good day."

Dumbledore stood there staring at the back of the 2nd year trying to figure out what to do. The boy didn't seem to show any open hostility except to people he didn't really like because of things they had done to him. He didn't want to look at the young man and think him capable of murder, but then where had Gilderoy gone. Was it possible the man was still hiding out in the castle somewhere? Dumbledore decided then and there that he should take what Harry had said to heart. He needed to keep better tabs on his professors and make sure he knew exactly what was going on with them when they weren't in class. Another incident like this could cause something to get out to the daily prophet and ruin the reputation of the school. That would just not do. With thoughts on how to screen his professors already brewing in his head Dumbledore sighed and began to walk back into the castle. He could only hope that he wasn't making the same mistakes he had made with Tom. There were so many similarities between the two boys, but Harry was the son of Lily and James surely he would not be tempted to join the man who had made sure he grew up without parents.

Harry walked into his new room and plopped down on the bed. Being too lazy to actually get his writing supplies he wandlessly summoned them. He needed to write a letter to Sirius to let him know exactly why he had set him free.

_Sirius,_

_So I suppose you're wondering why I set you free. Well really there is only one reason. I had heard you were one of the best at certain types of magic. I am looking for a mentor, someone to teach me how to fight not duel. If you agree to these terms then I would like to arrange a meeting with you. However if you were to turn down this offer there would be nothing to stop me from starting another case to have you thrown back in Azkaban. The choice is yours. I'll instruct my owl to wait so that you can send a reply._

_Harry Potter_

Remembering the little scrap of paper with the address on it Harry began to fish around in his pockets. He grabbed a hold of the paper and pulled it out.

_The home of the one and only sex god Sirius Black is located at number 12 Grimmauld Place. A.K.A The love shack._

Harry couldn't help but laugh at what he had just read. It seemed like even with so much time in the prison Sirius still had a sense of humor and an ego. Perhaps if he had enough time between all his training and keeping up his grades he'd even get to learn something about girls this coming year if the claims about being a sex god were true.

"Twink!" He called for his elf and waited for it to pop into the room, "I have a message for you to deliver. I know it's been a long time since I've called you but I hope you've been able to keep busy by cleaning the house and maintaining the outside. Read this paper and then go there. Do not leave until Sirius has a reply. I had originally intended to use Hedwig but this will be faster and time is of the essence."

"Oh yes Master! Twink will be taking the message right now. Also the house is completely clean waiting for Master to come home from school!" With that said the elf excitedly read the piece of paper and then grabbed the letter and popped away. Harry just shook his head at the silly little creature. Then he burned the paper and banished the ashes as he was instructed. He didn't know how long Sirius would take to respond, but he needed to do something to pass the time. So he got up and walked over towards the door to the bathroom. He cautiously threw it open this time, and scanned the room for anything out of the ordinary before he stepped in. When he deemed it safe he took a single step in and then quickly turned and flung the door shut with his wand aimed at the spot he couldn't see. There was nothing there and so he let himself relax. The basilisk had apparently kept his word and would be staying in the chamber from now on. The bathroom / breeding room was huge, and the stone walls would make it great for casting spells in. He would have to be careful not to cast anything to powerful so he didn't blow a hole in the walls though. He went back over and opened the door first in case Twink came back looking for him. He shut out the rest of his thoughts and let himself fall into a training mood. The only thing that mattered now was the spells he was casting.

There was one spell he had been meaning to practice ever since he had learned about Azkaban and the dementors. When professor Snape had told him about them he had been slightly worried. He never wanted one of those creatures to come near him so he had gone to the library and done some research. They were impossible to kill, and there was only one spell that would repel them. It was the patronus charm and it would be one of if not the hardest charm he had learned yet. Most adult wizards never learned to cast it properly. It required the caster to have one extremely powerful memory. Most people assumed this had to be a happy memory, but as the book he had read about the charm in explained, happiness was different for each individual witch and wizard. So that's where Harry decided to start. He would need to pick one memory that stood out above the rest and be able to call it forward quickly to cast the spell whenever needed.

He walked to the middle of the giant heated tub and laid down. He summoned the pillow off his bed and set it under his head. He might be here trying to find a memory to use for a while so might as well be comfortable. He let his body relax and slipped into his meditation state.

It was about 45 minutes later when Harry groggily opened his eyes and started to sit up. The process had been a lot harder than he thought. Finally he had chosen the perfect memory to use for his patronus. It wasn't a typical "happy memory" but he felt great pleasure when he relived the memory. After he had chosen it, he needed to hide the memory on the outer layer of his mind shield so it could be called forth quickly. This had proven to be a lot more difficult because it needed to remain hidden since the memory he had chosen could very well land him in Azkaban.

He summoned the book to him with the wand movements and looked them over one last time. He cleared his mind and pulled his memory forward then with a flick of his wrist he called out "Expecto Patronum!" To his surprise a silver mist came out. For being such an advanced spell he hadn't expected any results his first try, but this mist seemed thick. How long it would hold against a real dementor was unknown to him though. This was about as far as most witches and wizards ever got. They would never be able to cast anything more than a mist. But the book went onto say that anyone who worked at it enough could eventually form a corporeal patronus in the shape of an animal. The animal shape usually represented one or more of the traits in the caster. Harry didn't want to admit it, but he was slightly nervous to find out what his inner beast was going to be. Seeing what shape it took would give him a deeper look into what was actually on the inside. Sure he knew that he was calm, smart, powerful, and arrogant. But what about the inner traits, the ones that were dormant and hadn't been brought to light just yet.

What if he had an inner courage? What if his patronus took the shape of a lion or something else that would make people doubt how much he deserved to be in Slytherin. He was getting side-tracked though. Focusing his attention back on the spell he began casting again. He was able to cast the spell 8 more times before he was feeling drained. He had achieved a little bit more success in that his mist was now beginning to form into a shape. It was still too early in the process to determine what type of animal though.

Twink had still not returned so Harry decided to go find his friends. He hadn't got to spend much time with them because of the fact that Dumbledore had grabbed him. It would be nice to be able to joke around and maybe pick on some Hufflepuffs. After checking to make sure no one was in the hall he exited his room and decided to check the common room first. If they weren't outside anymore then that was the second most likely place for them to be, so with his mind made up he set out to find his friend and hopefully do something fun to take his mind off of the event from earlier.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N Another short filler chapter just to end out the school year. Next chapter will be the entire summer for Harry and Sirius.

Harry walked out of his last exam feeling like a weight had been lifted off of him. He had no more classes now, and the summer break was just a few days away. It was hard to hide how excited he was. For the first time in his life he would have someone who he could look to for advice and help. Sirius had finally been able to reply to his letter, and had said he'd be more than happy to mentor Harry. Of course he said it could only be theory because of the underage magic restrictions, but he didn't yet know Harry's wand was untraceable. Sirius had also invited Harry to come live with him at Grimmauld Place, but Harry had declined and informed him he already had a house.

Harry decided the first thing he would be doing once the train reached King's Cross was to go to Knockturn Alley and purchase some beginner dark arts books. It couldn't hurt to have a head start before his actual lessons began. Harry was pulled from his thoughts when he accidentally bumped into someone. She fell down and a book or two fell out of her bag. If it had been some Gryffindor or Hufflepuff he probably would have shot a snide comment and walked away. But he took one look at the Ravenclaw girl in front of him and bit his tongue. It was Cho Chang, the girl Lockhart had tried to take advantage of. He bent down and picked up her books, then held out his hand for her to grab onto so he could pull her up. He was about to say something when she spoke.

"I'm sorry! I should have been watching where I was going. I hope you're okay." She was sincere in her apology which is what threw Harry.

"Hey relax; it's not your fault. I was day dreaming and bumped into you." Harry tried to set her at ease. It was then that he took in her appearance. He hadn't had much contact with her ever, but he'd seen her before. She normally kept a very well maintained appearance, but now her hair looked unbrushed and she had black circle under her eyes from lack of sleep. He wanted to ask if she was okay, but something stopped him. He couldn't figure out why he should care. It was just some Ravenclaw girl. So he stopped all thoughts of feeling any concern for her. He had done his part by getting rid of that bastard.

He handed her two books back to her and started to walk away. He only got about six steps away when he felt a hand on his shoulder and was spun around. He was caught off guard when a pair of soft lips kissed his. It was very brief and was over before it even started.

"Thank you for what you did." She looked almost on the verge of tears, "if it wasn't for you I'd probably still be being…b..being…used by that bastard." The tears had started to fall and Harry did the only thing he could think of. He reached forward and pulled her into a light embrace. He didn't feel anything towards her, but he wasn't completely heartless. He wasn't going to just leave her crying in the hallway.

He rubbed her back comfortingly, if not slightly awkwardly. He hadn't ever had to comfort someone like this before. It was about three or four minutes before she pulled herself together.

"I'm sorry for that it's just every time I try and sleep I have nightmares now. I always feel dirty, like he's still touching me. And anytime it's brought up that's all I can think about."

For his part Harry really wasn't sure what he could or say to make it better because in all honesty nothing could make it better for her unless the memories disappeared. Then he had an idea. In one of his mind art books he had read that it was possible for a legilems to suppress or hide certain memories in a person's mind. He hadn't had much experience at all with legilemency, but if she wanted he would be willing to attempt it for her.

"Cho, I might have a way to help you, but you'll have to trust me because in order for it to work I'll have to stun you." Harry wasn't about to let her know he could use legilemency. It was a secret and he planned on keeping it that way. No sense showing his hand to someone and having the word get around. She seemed hesitant at first, but then she slowly nodded her head. Together they walked in silence to the nearest unused classroom.

"Alright you ready?" He asked her. She just closed her eyes and nodded.

"Stupefy!" He called out the incantation on purpose even though he didn't really need to anymore. He caught her as she crumpled to the ground and then laid her down softly.

He stared down at her and whispered "legilems" and soon he was rushing into her mind. Thousands of thoughts and memories were being tossed at him. It was almost overwhelming. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and focused on the specific memories he was looking for. Sure enough he was able to locate all of the memories of what had happened. It took every ounce of his will power to not lash out in anger. He didn't want to accidentally hurt Cho after all. Now that he had the memories he wasn't really sure what to do so he started to wing it. He concentrated on molding all of the memories into a clump of sorts and then locking it away. At first nothing happened but then the memories started to collapse inward on themselves and move together. Soon enough they were in a block shape and a small box appeared just big enough to fit the memory square. He dropped it inside and closed the lid then banished the box away. He wasn't sure what he had done worked, but there was only one way to find out. He pulled out of her mind and woke her up.

When she came to she blinked and looked around owlishly. "What…what happened? I remember you telling me you could help with my memories, but this…this is better than I hoped. I have no recollection of whatever it was that was upsetting me. Thank you!" She hugged him tightly and he just stood there. Now that she wasn't an emotional wreck the contact was too much. She must have noticed his discomfort because she let go.

"I'm glad I was able to help. Have a good summer Cho; maybe I'll see you around sometime yeah?" With that Harry walked away.

"Well I've done my good deed for the year, karma can't get me now." He thought out loud to himself and let out a little chuckle. Turns out he was wrong though.

As he walked towards the Great Hall so he could get lunch he ran into his least favorite Gryffindors. Weasley and Longbottom noticed him and made a beeline straight towards him. _Oh great, what do these two idiots want?_ Harry thought. Before he could even get a word off they started firing spells at him. Luckily his reflexes were honed and he dove out of the way of the incoming spells.

"Bastard snake! Thought you'd get away with attacking me in the Great Hall didn't you? Well now you don't have anyone to back you up!" Weasley yelled out at him.

Harry was annoyed, he had been in such a good mood and these clowns pull this crap. Well he would teach them a lesson. He dodged two more spells from the pair and then fired back. He put a little bit of extra power in the disarming charm he sent at Weasley and enjoyed watching the boy be blown off his feet and crash into a suit of armor. With his partner already out of the fight Longbottom seemed to falter and get nervous, but he was a Gryffindor and wasn't going to back down from a fight. He began casting faster and faster. Trying to put more and more power behind his spells. Harry didn't take him seriously as he easily dodged all of his spells or countered them. That seemed to annoy the boy who lived the most. He was being dismissed without a second thought.

But as his first mentor had warned him, if you're too cocky you make a mistake. And Harry made a mistake and got caught in his shoulder by a cutting hex. It made a nice slash mark about 7 inches long and half an inch deep. He let out a wince, but refused to show anything more. He was done playing around now. Harry lifted his wand and Neville froze when he saw the pure rage in his eyes.

"You want to play Longbottom? Fine we'll play. Secar!" Neville had no chance against the stronger cutter. He hadn't even heard the spell before. He stood in shock as the blue spell collided with his arm and part of his rib cage. The gash was much wider than the one he caused on Harry and about an inch deep. The boy wasn't used to pain like Harry was and he collapsed to his knees.

Harry calmed down enough to realize what he'd done. He knew that a wound that deep would cause the boy to bleed out if he didn't get help. As much as he didn't like Longbottom he was not going to Azkaban because the dumb ass attacked him.

"Stupefy! Mobilocorpus!" The boy was knocked out and his body floated along behind Harry as he rushed up to the hospital wing.

He burst through the doors and yelled out for Poppy. She came bustling out of her office to find out what the commotion was about. She took one look at the boy floating and immediately set to work. She pulled her wand out and started muttering to herself. She ran the wand along his injury and slowly the skin started to pull back together. Harry watched fascinated by the healing. It would probably be useful in case he ever got hurt in a fight and needed to heal himself quickly. He decided to pick up some books on healing when he went to Knockturn alley also.

Once the matron was done and sure that her patient would be fine she shoved a blood replenishing potion down his throat and then turned on Harry.

"And just how did he get such a bad cut Mr. Potter? Don't bother lying to me either; I know a magical injury when I see one."

"He and his dunderhead sidekick Weasley tried to attack me because I was by myself. He hit me in the shoulder." At this he pointed to the wound he had almost forgotten about, "so I just defended myself. "

Poppy just shook her head. Wizards were always getting in fights; she very rarely had any female patients. But the men, oh her job would be so much easier if they could just learn to work things out without fighting.

"Well Mr. Potter come here so I can get you healed up as well. Granted your wound is a lot smaller and appears to have stopped bleeding already. So no need for me to keep you over night. But be careful with it. If you move around too much you might tear the skin again.

Harry listened to her and moved forward so she could heal his shoulder. It felt weird to have his skin pull itself back together. Once it was done he thanked the matron, took one last look at Longbottom, and then walked out of the hospital wing. He was slightly surprised to see Tracey waiting outside.

Ever since the incident in the common room at the beginning of the year the two had become somewhat friendly. They weren't really friends but they didn't dislike each other. It was more of a study thing, when Tracey needed help she would come to Harry and ask him if he would help her with an assignment. He had only ever said no to her once. So he was confused as to what she was doing waiting for him.

When she saw him exit she smiled and spoke, "Harry I'm glad to see you're okay. I saw you rushing towards the hospital wing and a trail of blood so I was afraid you'd been hurt. "He was caught off guard by her apparent concern. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it and if it was even real or not.

"Uh yeah I'm fine Tracey, Longbottom and the Weasel tried to jump me so I taught them a lesson, but I might have gone a little over board on one of my spells. Had to make sure our resident celebrity didn't die."

Once he had told her that he was fine her normal sarcastic self seemed to come back, "Well aren't you just so noble and chivalrous Potter? Who knew we had a lion in the snake's den." She smiled sweetly at him and he just rolled his eyes at her and started to walk away.

She followed after him and continued to poke fun at him. Normally Harry would have gotten annoyed, but he liked it when she did it. He wouldn't ever tell her that of course, but he didn't mind if Tracey teased him. He was caught off guard however when she suddenly got a mischievous glint in her eyes and tossed herself at him knocking him back towards an open broom closet. She quickly shut the door, and from her position on top of him she leaned down and kissed him.

Harry's first thought was _why is everyone kissing me today?_ But then when Tracey showed no signs of stopping he started to kiss her back and wrapped one arm around her back and another on the side of her face. He pulled her closer and laid down so she was pressed against him. When she finally broke the kiss and sat up she was straddling him perfectly.

"You have no idea how long I wanted to do that Potter." Harry just mumbled incoherently, but the big goofy grin on his face told her all she needed to know. He was about to try and kiss her again when he felt her start to grind herself on top of his crotch. He was caught off guard by all of this, Tracey was normally a very reserved girl and they hadn't even been close. But he'd be damned if he was going to tell her to stop. He reached up and pulled her face to his as he kissed her again. They snogged for about 15 minutes more before they came out of the broom closet. They took a look at each other and laughed. Both had such disheveled appearances from the fall. They took a minute to fix themselves so no one would know what happened and then continued on their walk.

To Harry's surprise it wasn't awkward afterwards. They just carried on teasing each other like they normally would. Maybe he wouldn't need Sirius's help with girls after all. Neither of them mentioned dating, or what had happened at all. Harry's stomach let out a rumble and he realized he missed lunch because of the duel. Making a split second decision he turned to Tracey.

"You want to go somewhere no one else knows about? I haven't even shown Daphne or Blaise. I haven't eaten and I don't know if you have either, but I could call my house elf and have it bring us food."

Tracey smiled and agreed. Secretly she was happy about being let in to somewhere not even Harry's closest friends knew about.

As they started to walk towards the dungeons he turned again to her. "Alright I'm not going to show you exactly where it is so I need to blindfold you." He said somewhat embarrassedly not sure how she would take to being blindfolded in the dungeons.

She smiled coyly at him, "Oh Mr. Potter, one snog session and now you want to blind fold me and take me to some secret spot. What do you have planned?" She winked at him but pulled out a scarf from her bag to use as a blindfold. Harry played along and grabbed the scarf while he winked back at her. He wrapped it around her eyes and then got behind her to tie it off. But Tracey apparently wasn't done playing as she leaned back and pressed herself against him. The smile she was wearing made Harry want to lean down and kiss her again.

"Potter would you mind adjusting your wand it's poking me." She said this fully aware that Harry kept his wand attached to his wrist in its holster. He just shook his head and finished tying the knot. As he walked by he couldn't resist and gave her a light slap on the bum. She gave a little surprised noise and then tried to swat him across the head but missed. He laughed and grabbed her hand so he could lead her through the dungeons.

It wasn't long before they reached the spot where the entrance to the room was. With a muffled hiss he opened the wall and quickly pulled her in. As soon as the wall was shut he pulled the blindfold off of her.

She looked around the room amazed by it. "Where are we Harry?"

"Welcome to Slytherin's personal quarters. This is where he lived and slept. Feel free to look around and explore. I'll call my house elf and have some food prepared for us."

"WAIT THIS IS SALAZAR SLYTHERIN'S ROOM? HOW CAN YOU ACT SO CASUAL ABOUT BEING IN A ROOM ONE OF THE FOUNDERS USED?" She was screaming as loud as she could and Harry just hoped the walls were sound proof.

"It's just a room, besides there weren't any artifacts or anything that I could find in it. Unless they're hidden very well. It was kind of disappointing. "After he explained it he called for Twink. The house elf appeared with a pop and was more than happy to go and get food for master and his friend. Harry laid down on his bed and watched as Tracey walked around the room examining every little thing. She gasped when she opened the bathroom and for a second Harry wondered if the basilisk was back. But since she wasn't laying on the ground petrified or dead he assumed it was something else.

"This bathtub is huge! It could be used for a pool!" He just shook his head and laughed. For like the hundredth time that day she caught him off guard by jumping into the bed and curling up against him while they waited for their food. Neither of them said anything they just laid in silence and enjoyed each other's company. For Harry he hadn't ever felt this comfortable being close to someone before. It was a nice feeling. But he had to keep himself in check. There was no way he was going to fall for Tracey. They could snog and cuddle, but he was not going to let himself fall for her. It would just make him weaker in the long run after all. At least that's what he was telling himself.

About twenty minutes later Twink popped back into the room and had a large platter of food. The little house elf smiled and brought the food over to the bed. Harry and Tracey were starving and they set right in on the food. Twink popped away, probably to go back and clean the house some more. The two were stuffing their mouths as much as they could. It was funny seeing two Slytherins lose all sense of manners. They both reached for the last pastry and grabbed it at the same time. This time it was Harry that caught Tracey off guard. He gave the pastry a tug and because she hadn't let go she rolled over on top of him. He tossed the pastry aside and put his arms around the girl laying on him. She smiled and gave him a little peck on the lips before she laid her head down on his chest. Fifteen minutes later Twink popped in to take the tray and leftovers away. The elf just shook her head when she saw the two cuddled up asleep with each other.

The next morning Harry woke up first. At first he was confused as to why there was a weight on his chest. As he became more aware of his surroundings he remembered the day before. He smiled a little at the girl who laid half on him and half on the bed. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so well. It would have been perfect except for one thing. Harry forgot that his other friends would be curious as to where he was. They were probably going mad trying to find Tracey and him. It was the last day of the year so he couldn't really bring himself to care too much, they'd see him on the train after all. Mostly it was just because he was too comfortable to move. He ran his hands through Tracey's hair for a little while until she woke up and he quickly dropped his hand.

"Morning sunshine! So does my chest make a good pillow?" Harry teased her. And to his surprise she blushed.

"Oh my, is that what I think it is? Tracey Davis blushing? Someone alert the presses this is front page stuff."

"Oh shut up you prat. Come on we have to get ready for the feast this morning. And we have to look our best for when we are presented the house cup. There's no chance we're losing it this year. "the two took turns using the bathroom to get ready for the morning. It took about half an hour because Tracey didn't want to get out of the warm bath. But finally they were ready to leave the room and meet up with the rest of the second year Slytherins. Harry had decided he didn't care if she knew where the room was since she couldn't access it so he didn't bother with the blindfold this time.

Right before they left Tracey turned to him.

"Harry just so we're clear, we aren't dating. Yesterday was just for fun. I've been wanting to snog you all year just because. No feelings or anything. "

Harry let out a sigh of relief, "Well I'm glad we're both in agreement. So does that mean we can do this type of stuff more?" He asked genuinely curious as to her answer.

"We'll see Mr. Potter. You were a pretty good snogger, maybe you can visit sometime during the summer. "

Harry nodded his head and hoped he could. As the two stepped out into the dungeon hallway they wiped all sense of amusement off their faces and put on their typical Slytherin smirks. Couldn't have other houses thinking Slytherin's could be friendly after all.

The walk to the Great Hall was short and they were some of the first students there. So they went to their spot at the table and sat down to wait for their friends. About twenty minutes later the rest of their year mates came walking in. All of them saw the two sitting at the table and began to rush to get over. Draco was the first one though.

"Potter, Davis! Where have you two been? We've been looking all over the bloody place for you." He was practically whining.

"Draco you should get a hold of yourself, people might think you actually were concerned about us." Harry quipped at him. Draco caught on and looked disgusted.

"As if Potter, I just didn't want to be left out of any fun you might be having. After all everyone knows you need a Malfoy to have a real party." He stuck up his nose and made an exaggerated sniffing noise. The group laughed a little bit at the joke and then sat down.

Blaise spoke up once everyone was situated, "So where have you two been though? No one could find either of you last night."

Harry and Tracey looked at each other unsure of what to say, they hadn't really come up with an excuse. With a shrug of his shoulders and a nod from Trace, Harry told them the truth.

"We were snogging. We found an unused classroom and we accidentally fell asleep in there." The gob smacked expression on everyone's faces had Harry nearly falling off his chair laughing.

Once he got over the shock Blaise spoke again, "Well I guess we did ask for it. So anyway. Has anyone decided which electives there taking next year? I was thinking runes and arithmancy. They seem like the most useful."

Almost everyone agreed on the choices. Nott had said he was going to take Care of Magical creatures instead of runes though. And Draco though he might also take the creatures class. The rest of the time at the feast Harry and his friends talked and joked about little things. Right before the end Dumbledore stood up to make his end of year announcement.

"Another year gone and once again your heads are crammed with knowledge just waiting to be dumped during this summer." Harry tuned out most of the speech until the house cup awarding. Slytherin had indeed won this year and the table erupted in cheers while everyone else remained silent. Then Dumbledore announced he had a special award to present.

"For great service to the school and students I would like to present Mr. Longbottom with this plaque that will hang in the trophy room. For those who have not heard, he bravely rushed into the Chamber of Secrets to save another student who had been taken hostage by none other than Lord Voldemort." Here almost everyone gasped. Harry just shook his head and balled his fists. That wasn't the whole truth. Dumbledore made it seem like that mudblood Granger wasn't to blame. She had been so stupid to take the god damn diary and keep writing in it. He had gotten rid of it, so why couldn't she. He hated how Dumbledore made excuses for his little Gryffindors mistakes, but a Slytherin puts one toe out of line and suddenly their evil. He vowed someday that he'd make sure the Slytherin's got to be treated fairly like they should be. Even if that meant that the headmaster had to go.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry and his friends were having a pretty quiet ride on the train back to King's Cross. Blaise and Draco were playing a game of wizard's chess. Daphne had fallen asleep leaning against Blaise, but he didn't seem to mind. Nott sat next to the window and was reading his potions book. Pansy and the other Slytherin girls had taken the compartment across from theirs and they were all gossiping to each other. Harry thought about reading one of his books, but he was just very tired so he leaned against the window and shut his eyes. He felt someone lean against him, but he didn't bother to open his eyes. He assumed it was just Tracey taking a nap as well.

"Hey Harry wake up." Draco was currently shaking his arm to make him get up. Harry let out a yawn and very carefully got up and laid Tracey's head down on the seat so not to disturb her.

Draco had already walked out into the hall, so Harry followed him out there.

"What is it Draco? I was having a pleasant nap." It was true that was one of the best naps he'd ever had. Admittedly he felt completely rested and relaxed.

"We can't just let this train ride go without making fun of the Gryffindorks or Puff's now come on." Harry just shook his head and smirked at Draco, but he followed him down the train anyway.

They weren't exactly sure where Longbottom would be sitting, but from past experiences they knew that he usually sat near the back of the train. So that was where they started their search. It took them about five minutes, but eventually they found the compartment they were looking for. Before they barged right in they took a minute to see who was sitting inside the compartment. Naturally Weasley and Granger were there since they followed Longbottom everywhere. It seemed like Ginny had started tagging along with them as she was the only other one present in the room.

Harry gave Draco a little nod and then they threw the door open. Ron was out of his seat almost instantly.

"What do you two want! Come to mess with my little sister again? I swear to God I'm going to get you back for that Malfoy. " It seemed like the only reason Ron hadn't thrown himself at Malfoy already was because of the look that Granger was giving him. Surprisingly before Malfoy could make a comment Longbottom stood up between the two.

"Ron shut up. Listen Malfoy, Potter we don't need this right now. Just get out of here please." The whole room was shocked into silence. Had Longbottom really grown up? Harry wasn't sure what to make of the situation so he grabbed Draco's arm and led him out. As he was turning his back he saw Granger mouth "thank you" to Longbottom. That's when it hit him that she probably wasn't over how stupid she was and Longbottom was just trying to keep things calm for her.

Once they were out in the hall walking back towards their compartment Draco spoke up.

"What just happened? It's no fun to taunt someone if they react calmly to it. Longbottom usually would have waited till I made a comment and then jumped right to his lap dog's defense. What the bloody hell?" Harry didn't have an answer so he just settled for a shrug of his shoulders.

They got back to their compartment and didn't mention what had happened, even though all of their friends asked where they had gone. The rest of the train ride was uneventful except for Draco announcing his birthday party would be held at his family manor and that everyone was invited to attend. Once the train arrived at the station the group of Slytherins all said there good byes for the summer (even though they would all be seeing each other soon). Harry for his part just hung out off to the side. He watched on with a twinge of jealousy as all the students ran to greet their parents or guardians. It wasn't often that he let himself think about his parents or what life would be like if they were alive, but he had some time to kill.

He suspected that if his parents had been alive he wouldn't be near the way he was now. He would have been loved growing up, and if everyone was to be believed he probably wouldn't be dark. Yes, even now Harry could see he was going to be a dark wizard. He was only a few days away from his first dark arts lesson and he would not back out now. If his parents had been around he probably would have been a Gryffindor, brave and noble. He cringed a little at the thought and wondered if that meant he would have been friends with Longbottom and Weasley. As much as the fact that he didn't have parents bothered him, it was slowly becoming a lesser though. He couldn't be happier right now. He had some great friends and allies, he was powerful, knew how to act properly, and had a home of his own.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. _If I could go back and change what had happened…I wouldn't. I like who I've become, how powerful I am and will be. My parents were fighting a war and in war people die. There is no one to blame._ Harry noticed that the station had thinned out considerably and he was one of the only people left. Making sure no one was watching he shrunk down all his bags and made them feather-weight. Then he strode through the barrier and back into muggle London.

Before he was going back to his house he needed to get to Knockturn Alley to purchase a few dark arts books. He quickly found the loo and went inside. After checking that no one else was inside he called for Twink. The elf appeared and Harry asked him to take them to the Leaky Cauldron. The elf nodded happily and with a crack they both vanished.

A few seconds later they appeared in the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't very crowded at all, Harry suspected everyone was either getting their children home safely, or it was still too early for the drunks to be out yet. He waved to Tom behind the counter as he made his way out the back door and into the alley. He checked his money pouch to make sure he had enough left for his purchases. It wasn't full, but the bag was a little less than halfway and he wasn't sure exactly how much the books would cost so he decided to make a quick trip to Gringotts.

He walked into the bank and up to the nearest available teller.

"Excuse me I need to go to my vault. " Harry said as he passed his key over to the goblin behind the counter. The goblin examined the key for a minute before a flash of recognition lit up its ugly face.

"Ah Mr. Potter, just a minute if you will. I have to get your other vault key." Before Harry could ask what it meant the creature had walked off through the door directly behind it. About a minute later it came back holding an envelope and two keys.

"Here you are Mr. Potter. The envelope includes a list of your assets, properties, and shares. These are your two vault keys. One for the trust vault to pay for your education and one to access your family vault."

Harry was very confused. He had assumed he had another vault since he knew the Potter's were a very old family but the goblins had never mentioned it before, so why now? He voiced his question to the goblin which sneered at him before it answered.

"It would seem that your magical guardian Sirius Black was released from prison and proven innocent, which meant he could assume his rightful duties as your guardian. However he sent us a letter stating that he wished for you to be put in charge of your vaults and assets. So as of right now you are in charge of your vaults. The only thing you can't receive right now is the Potter ring. You must wait until you turn fifteen before being allowed to claim the ring. "Harry nodded his head in understanding.

"Well in that case, I'd like to go to my family vault." The goblin called out for Griphook, the same goblin who had helped Harry on his previous visits to the bank. Harry greeted the goblin in a friendly manner trying not to disrespect the creatures that handled his money. The ride down to his family vault took even longer than the one to his trust vault. By the end of the ride he thought he was going to get sick everywhere. Griphook just looked on at the scene with a smirk, or as best a smirk as a goblin could manage.

"Here we are at your family vault Mr. Potter. If I could have the key please. "Harry passed his key over and watched as the goblin inserted the key into the door and the vault began to open. If he had thought there was a lot of money in his trust vault he was deeply mistaken. The vault appeared to be about twice the size of the Great Hall and was filled with galleons. With this new discovery he decided he could carry more money on him at a time. He didn't think he could spend all of the money in two lifetimes. He turned to Griphook and asked if he had any more of the money pouches. The goblin said he had something better though. With that said he pulled out a single pouch and handed it to Harry.

"That pouch Mr. Potter can be linked directly to this vault, so all you will have to do is say the desired amount of galleons and that is the amount that will appear in the pouch. In order to link the bag you'll need to pay a fee of 50 galleons." Harry quickly agreed and picked out 50 galleons from one of the large piles around him. Griphook took the bag and the money and said he would be back in a few minutes. Harry watched as he zoomed away in the cart, and then he turned around and began to walk into the vault to explore.

It was mostly money in the vault, but there was a little section of items off to the side. Most of it was useless to him. It was jewelry, clothes, paintings, furniture, and stuff like that. But there was a small section of books and he began leafing through the titles. One that particularly stuck out to him was on becoming an animagus. The only other books he picked up were one on advanced charms and warding and a book on object to animal transfiguration. That type of transfiguration usually wasn't taught to 5th year so he probably wouldn't be able to manage anything extraordinary right now, but he should be able to get the basics of it done. By the time he was done getting the books he could hear the cart coming back so he stepped outside the vault and closed it. Once the cart pulled up Griphook handed him the money pouch and then retrieved the key out of the vault door. Then he ushered Harry (more like shoved) into the cart and off they zoomed.

Harry left the bank after thanking Griphook and giving the goblin another 50 galleons as a thank you for his services. The goblin was surprised but greedily accepted the money and told Harry he would be glad to help anytime. _It's almost too easy to bribe people, now I understand why so many people do it_ Harry thought.

Harry had put on his cloak that would obscure his face once the hood was lifted. There was no need for anyone he didn't trust to see him wandering into Knockturn after all. He waited until right before he stepped into the darker alley to put his hood up. He sneered at the beggars on the side of the road. _Maybe if they actually tried to get a job or showered they wouldn't have to beg for scraps._ It disgusted him how people were content to just live their life wanting to be handed everything. Even Draco, whose family was rich, had to work for his grades and anything he wanted. People thought he would just get stuff from his parents, but he had told Harry during the year that anything he wanted came with a price. Usually it had to do with improving in a certain subject, but other times like during the summer when he was home he might have to clean or do other such work thought to be below him.

He kept his distance from the filth as he walked, careful to avoid anyone else who was walking towards him. But at one point one of the beggars got up and started to grab his arm. Harry immediately spun in his direction with his wand out. Without thinking he hexed the man who dared touch him. The hex was something Snape had taught him in their extra lessons. It was a stronger version of the stinging hex. Instead of just a quick single sting this one lasted for a couple of minutes and it felt like you were being repeatedly stung. After that everyone who witnessed the incident backed away from Harry. _Good now I won't be bothered _he thought.

It was another minute or two of wandering down the alley before he finally spotted a book store. He had passed Borgin and Burkes a while ago and almost went in but then thought they might only have advanced books. So he had proceeded on to try and find an actual book shop. Truth be told it was one of the nicer looking stores in the alley that he had seen so far. The sign read "Nott's Books and Scrolls" and Harry couldn't help but wonder if this was run by Theo's family.

He stepped inside and his question was almost immediately answered when he saw a bored looking Theodore Nott sitting at the counter. The boy looked up when he heard the door open and glared at the customer.

"Put your hood down or get out. Now." He ordered and Harry was thinking briefly about messing with him, but decided it was best not to piss off the person who would be coming up with prices for books he needed. So he obliged and lowered his hood. Nott's jaw just dropped. "Potter what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing Nott, we just got out of school and you're already working. It's been what a few hours? I didn't even know your family owned a book store." Harry slowly approached the counter as he talked to the Slytherin boy.

Nott groaned a little, "Tell me about it, but my father had to run off to some meeting with Malfoy's father and some of the other father's from the Slytherin's in our year. Something to do with Draco's party in a couple days probably. He dropped me off here and told me to hold down the shop till he got back. So what can I do for you? I assume you're looking for some books, but the question now is why come all the way down Knockturn Alley, when Flourish and Blotts is right in Diagon."

Harry smirked, "Come on Nott, even you aren't that dumb. I simply require some books they don't sell in Diagon. Namely some beginner books on the dark arts as well as some healing ones." He said it nonchalantly hoping the boy wouldn't question him.

Nott just raised his eyebrows but beckoned for Harry to follow him. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, first Potter to ever be in Slytherin and now you want to learn the dark arts. It was only a matter of time. The beginner section is right here on these shelves, if you go on the opposite side you'll find our healing section, but be warned it's very small." Harry nodded his head and began to skim through some of the titles and occasionally stopped to open up one he thought would be interesting. Since there was no one else in the store Theo stayed close by and began asking him about the books.

"So is this just a knowledge thing, or do you actually plan on using those spells Potter? I mean it's not like you can practice at all during the summer. You don't live in a magical manor where the ministry can't track you after all." Harry might have thought the boy was trying to rub it in that Harry wasn't staying at a large manor if he hadn't gotten to know the boy and his tone of voice. The way the boy spoke now he was just curious and wasn't trying to be condescending. Although to anyone outside of Slytherin he probably would have come across that way.

"Not that it's really any of your business, but I have a feeling I may have to use these in the future sometime and as such have acquired a tutor over the summer. The healing charms are really just so we can all mock duel at school without having to go to the Hospital Wing every day." Nott seemed to accept his answer and they just made small talk about what they planned on doing for the rest of the summer after that.

It took about 30 minutes before Harry had found all the books he was looking for. Theo took them up to the counter and started pricing out each of the books. Overall it wasn't too bad. Only about 120 galleons for 5 books. Harry thanked his classmate and said he would see him at Draco's manor on the 5th for his birthday.

Right before he walked out he threw his cloak up over his head again. Having everything he needed he was about to call for Twink to take him home when he decided he could at least look around for a little bit more. He'd never really had time to see what was down the alley and he was curious what type of stuff was sold. He walked down a little further and noticed many bars and run down looking shacks. It looked like there were a couple of vendors on each side of the road selling stuff off of carts or occasionally right out of their cloaks. Deciding it would be wise to turn around Harry headed back towards Borgin and Burkes. He had seen a lot of interesting objects the last time he had been there and he had been considering getting another house elf or two and having them start to clean up and refurnish Potter Manor. He imagined the manor was probably all decked out in Gryffindor colors and decorations, and that would just not do. He couldn't stand having to deal with the blaring red and gold every day. He walked through the door of the dingy looking store and the bell rang to alert Borgin he was there. The creepy shop keeper came out of the back room to greet his new customer.

"Hello again Borgin, I require three more house elves if you have them. Money is not an issue that bothers me either." Borgin looked like he had galleons in his eyes when Harry said this. The man quickly said he did indeed have the elves available and he would need to fetch them from the back.

While the man went to get the elves Harry looked around the store to see if there was anything useful. But for the most part it all looked like useless junk, and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't all of the stuff Borgin had for sale. Deciding to try a little game he walked up front and waited for the man to come back.

The man came back about ten minutes later and handed Harry the pillowcases just like he had when Harry bought Twink. He handed out one to each elf and then paid Borgin the amount he had asked. Then he smirked at the man.

"Mr. Borgin may I see some of your other wares, the ones in the back possibly?" It was said very calmly but Borgin suddenly took on an angry look.

"I don't know who you are, but I don't have anything else!" He was about to storm away when Harry pulled out his secret weapon.

"That's a pity; Lucius Malfoy said you had some of the finest wares available. I suppose he mislead me. Very well have a good day Mr. Borgin." Harry headed for the door but was stopped when Borgin called after him.

"Lucius sent you, you say? Well he was right I've got the best stuff in this alley. What was it you were looking for exactly? Harry thought carefully about something he could use and then came up with something.

"Well is there anything you have that I might be able to store memories in? There are some things I'd like to have just in case of an accident where I might forget them."

Borgin didn't answer instead he just walked to the back. It took him about five minutes before he came out with a pearl white bowl on a pedestal.

"This is a pensieve, it will allow you to store memories in it and then you can dunk your head in them to view the memories. They are very rare, but I happen to have acquired one last year. No one has been able to offer the right price for it though." Harry was evaluating the item, it seemed like it would be perfect for what he wanted. He wanted to see it work though and he voiced that to Borgin. The man happily obliged and Harry watched fascinated as he put his wand to his temple and then pulled out a thin silver strand. He deposited the strand in the bowl and told Harry to look down. Sure enough Harry could see the memory playing out in the bowl.

"I'll take it, how much do you want?"

Borgin scrunched his face up in concentration for a minute probably trying to decide how much to charge for the object. "I think that three thousand galleons would be fair. Like I said these are very rare, and very useful. Especially for wizards such as us, we tend to make a lot of enemies who would like to make us forget things." Harry hesitated for a second, but then quickly remember just how much gold he had sitting in his vaults and he agreed. He paid Borgin and then called for Twink.

"Twink these are three new house elves. Go to Gringotts and find out where my family manor is located. You four will then clean and refurnish the manor for me this summer. Get rid of all the Gryffindor colors and replace them with Slytherin. Also the house elves may pick their own names. I don't have time to sit here and pick ones for them. One final thing, you will spare no expense when furnishing the manor. Use only the finest material for carpets and tapestries. Also buy all four of yourselves material and make a uniform. I will not have my house elves looking like shabby disgraces of creatures. Now go." Harry ordered the house elves and they were more than happy to have such a big task to do.

Harry had finished all his business in Knockturn and decided to head back to the Leaky Cauldron to get some dinner and then floo back to his house. Once he reached the pub he noticed that it was starting to pick up business and suspected that the drunks were starting to come out, and that the ministry workers were probably getting to go home about now. He sat at the counter and ordered a butter beer and fish and chips from Tom who was more than happy to get it for him. Harry ate his meal in relative peace and then paid and left.

As he fell out of the fire place in his house he managed to stay on his feet instead of winding up on his ass. He walked up the stairs to the bedroom and was amazed by what he saw. Twink had certainly outdone himself. The room was huge with a big canopy bed in the center all decked out in green and silver. The carpet was black and looked extremely soft. He had two large wardrobes and what appeared to be a walk-in closet. At the foot of the bed there was a large multi-compartment trunk. The bathroom was very nice as well, marble sink top with a large bath and shower. He was very happy with the room. He enlarged his new pensieve and placed it in the middle of his room. Eventually he was going to ward the bowl so only he could put memories in or view them, but for now it was fine since there wasn't anything in it. He enlarged his trunk from school and wandlessly banished all the clothes into the large wardrobe next to his bed. And then transferred all the other items into the multi-compartment trunk. He took all the books however and put them on the shelves on the mini book shelf in his room. He grabbed one of his new dark arts books and then stripped down and climbed into bed.

He read the book for almost two hours before he finally fell into a peaceful sleep. Tomorrow he would really start practicing the magic in the books as it would be his last day before he was allowed to meet Sirius.

It was the first of June and that meant that Harry could officially go see Sirius. Up until today the court hadn't processed their decision so Sirius would still have been considered guilty and therefor wasn't allowed to leave his house. He had been told to arrive early as the two of them had a lot to get done. So after fixing himself a quick breakfast (thankfully Twink had stocked the kitchen with food) he showered and got dressed in a pair of casual robes. He wasn't sure what this first meeting would reveal so he took a moment to slam down on his mind shields. It wouldn't do any good to lash out in anger. He grabbed a pinch of floo powder and shouted his destination then stepped in.

After his world stopped spinning Harry quickly scanned his surroundings to make sure he wasn't in any immediate danger. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary so he allowed himself to relax for the moment, but he was still ready to draw his wand if needed. A few seconds passed before a man came into the room.

He was about average height, probably around six feet tall. His hair was black and messy and came down to about his shoulders. He had a neatly trimmed beard and grey eyes. His body wasn't at all what Harry had pictured it to be for someone who spent the past 12 years being tormented by Dementors. Instead of the skinny, frail body he was expecting the man who he assumed was Sirius was around average weight with a more muscular look to him. Behind the man a house elf stood with its arm crossed and sneered at Harry.

"Hello Harry, it's been so long since I last saw you and even then you were only a baby. No time to waste on that now though. You'll get the full story of what happened that night I promise, but for now let's take a seat in the living room and I'll have Kreacher here fetch some refreshments." Harry nodded, still slightly on edge. He had never met this man before after all and the last thing he knew was that the man had plotted to kidnap him or worse.

They walked into the next room and Sirius pointed to some chairs near a fireplace. Harry took his seat and sat back and waited for Sirius to start the conversation.

"So I guess before anything you want to know what happened the night your parents were killed, am I right?" Harry nodded and Sirius continued," Well let me start by saying I am a Death Eater. Unlike most I was just never marked. It wouldn't do any good to have me marked and be found out since I was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. In case you don't know the Order was a group put together by Dumbledore to fight back against death eaters. Anyway that night I found out that Voldemort had planned on having you and your parents killed. I didn't know what to feel since James and Lily were some of my best friends and you were my godson. In the end I decided I needed to stop Pettigrew. I couldn't just let him kill you guys. Unfortunately by the time I got there he had already killed James and Lily. I figured if I killed him I could bring you back with me though. I was prepared to bring you to the Dark Lord claiming I would raise you. Unfortunately I never got that far because Remus, one of our other friends from school, showed up and stunned me. They couldn't charge me as a Death eater technically because I had no mark, but I didn't even get a trial so the Daily Prophet was able to write whatever they wanted about me. Thanks to you though I was able to get a trial and set free. And that brings us to where we are now."

Harry took a few minutes to digest everything he had heard. For the moment it seemed like Sirius was trustworthy. He was going to give the man the benefit of the doubt for now.

"Alright I believe you, and so as I mentioned I only set you free because I found myself in need of a Dark Arts tutor. And someone who I trust mentioned you and told me a similar story to the one you just mentioned. So now my real question is when can we start training?" Harry got excited as he said the last part. There was something about the prospect of casting a forbidden magic that make him shiver in anticipation.

"We can start right now, stand up and wand at the ready." As Harry got up Sirius transfigured one of the chairs into a chalkboard and started writing on it. "Now normally you wouldn't be able to do magic, but since we're under the fidelius charm and you're in a magical manor you'll be fine. Have you done any studying of the dark arts before?" Harry nodded and Sirius grinned, "Good that means I can skip the whole rant on how they can become addicting if not used right. And they will literally drive you insane if you don't do this properly. Lucky for you though you have one of the best teachers out there. The first spell I'll be teaching you is the fire whip. It's only a borderline dark arts spell, but it can do a lot of damage. It's also one of the simpler spell because the only wand motion involved is a slash in the direction you want the whip to go. The incantation is flagrate flagellum. Now watch me and then you'll repeat it." Harry watched as Sirius turned to face a chair on the other side of the room. He slashed his wand diagonally downward as he yelled out the incantation and suddenly a long whip of flames severed the chair in half. Harry's eyes widened at how easily it had cut through the object. Sirius turned to him and beckoned him forward.

Harry flicked his wrist and his wand came out. Sirius repaired the chair and told Harry to go ahead and try. Remembering what he had read about how dark arts needed actual intent and not righteous anger he focused on memories from his time as a child. He could feel the hatred in him boiling and he calmly said the incantation as he slashed diagonally just as Sirius had done. Shock was evident on Sirius's face as a whip even larger than the one he had cast came out and nearly destroyed the chair completely. Harry felt an intense amount of pleasure surge through his body and he nearly lost himself in the euphoria before he remembered the warning about getting lost in the dark arts.

Shaking himself out of his trance he turned to Sirius, "How'd I do that? It was only my first time casting and it worked perfectly. That shouldn't be possible, should it? "Harry was genuinely confused.

Sirius frowned as he responded, "Well normally yes it would be impossible, but some people have a natural tendency towards certain branches of magic and it seems you have one for the dark arts." Here he smiled a little, "That means this is going to go very fast and I can teach you some more advanced things. So now you got the whip down, but let's see if you can maintain it and hit some moving targets. I'll conjure some plates and I want you to use the whip to slice all of them in half as a float them around the room. "

Harry smirked it was just like the practice he had done with Twink and his moving objects. Sirius was about to be in for a real shock as the plates started to move.

"Flagrate flagellum!" And he started destroying the plates, his movements were quick and precise each slash brought devastation to the floating plates. After about 15 seconds he had smashed 7 plates without missing even once.

"Well….it appears you have some really good aim as well. So let's start on the next spell shall we? It's a severing charm that makes it impossible to reattach any part it cuts through. It's pronounced sectumsempra. The slash marks it creates follow how your wand movements. So the more you add the more effective the spell. But be careful this one is very draining." And just as before Sirius demonstrated the spell and then Harry attempted it. He once again succeeded after only a few tries and as Sirius said it was a very draining spell, but he pushed on anyway enjoying the feeling too much to stop.

"Well you've gotten down two spells already so let's take a quick lunch break and allow your magic to restore a little bit. We can chat and get to know each other some more to. "Harry didn't want to stop and lose the pleasurable feeling he had from the dark magic flowing through him, but he reluctantly agreed as his more rational side started to kick in.

"So Harry tell me about how your Hogwarts years have been so far. I know you're a Slytherin but not much else. Who are your friends? What do you like to do?"

"Well so far Hogwarts has been interesting. The first year I was there the Dark Lord possessed a teacher and tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Unfortunately the boy-who-lived managed to stop him and in the process killed my mentor. I wasn't aware that the teacher who had been working with me all year was possessed at the time, but it struck me when I found out that he had been killed. "Harry wasn't sure how much to tell him about second year. After all he didn't completely trust Sirius just yet. So he settled on a shortened tale about how Longbottom had again rushed into the chamber of secrets to stop the dark lord from rising and to save his friend. Sirius seemed agitated every time he heard the dark lord had failed, but Harry figured that was to be expected from a loyal follower. That brought to mind another question Harry wasn't sure how to answer. Was he going to follow the Dark Lord? The man had murdered his parents and in a way that contributed to him being left in the orphanage, but then he placed himself in the Dark Lord's position and realized he would of done the same thing if someone had been considered a threat to his power and it was a time of war. He wasn't sure where he stood yet, but it was definitely leaning towards the death eater side.

Harry talked about his friends and some of the stuff they had done at Hogwarts so far. He mentioned his alliance with Malfoy and Sirius seemed surprised but happy at the same time. After Harry had finished he asked Sirius something he had been curious about. How the man had gone from being his father's best friend to joining the Dark Lord.

"Well my whole family has been dark for as long as anyone can remember. Even longer than that if you go back in the history books. But I had been sorted into Gryffindor and disowned because of it, so your father became my first friend and I spent many summers living at the manor with him. But around my 4th year at Hogwarts I started to miss some of the darker aspects of living at the Black manor. We weren't allowed to practice any spells that were even remotely questionable at the Potter manor. Then once we got out of school and joined up with the Order of the Phoenix I became disgusted with Dumbledore. He wanted everyone to be treated the same. Wizarding society is based off of our past and our ancestors. Yet he wanted to allow muggleborns to take up positions in our government. Most of the time they didn't know anything about our history or even the modern rules. How could someone like that be expected to make laws? Don't get me wrong, I understand every once in a while new blood has to be brought in and breeding with muggleborns and half-bloods may be necessary, but I wasn't willing to allow them to take control of our government. Then my brother Regulus came to me and told me he had joined the Dark Lord, and that I should to so I could be reinstated into my family. I don't know what came over me at the time, but I went and met with the Dark Lord. He asked me to spy for him since I was already in the Order. He left me unmarked, but every time I came to report he would use legilemency on me to make sure I was still loyal to him. And that is how I became involved as a death eater. I never planned for it to happen but it did and I don't regret it."

After lunch the two of them went back to training and Harry once again enjoyed the feeling of absolute bliss as he casted dark spell after dark spell. He had asked Sirius if he knew healing spells, but Sirius had told him that it wasn't one of his specialties and he had very basic knowledge only. By the end of the training Harry had learned five new spells all of which could be used to inflict serious damage upon an enemy. He was happy with the progress he was making and couldn't wait to see what the training became like once he was done learning spells and started to apply them. He had set up a scheduled routine with Sirius before he had left for the evening. In order to make sure he didn't become addicted they would be practicing only 3 times a week to start. Harry was at first disappointed, but he understood the need for such precautions.

Once Harry was back at his house for the night, he laid down and started reading through some of his healing books. He was naturally inclined towards the dark arts, so he figured he should study something that didn't come so easily to him. He didn't have anything to practice on at the moment, so all he could was read the theory and wand motions. He figured that at least he would have some knowledge of the spell before the first time he cast it though. Before he went to bed Twink had popped in and asked what master Potter wanted done with the fountain in the main entry hall at the manor. Apparently it was shaped like a giant lion. Harry had told the elf to tear it down and make the fountain into the model of a basilisk with the water flowing out of its mouth. The elf nodded and popped away.

Harry didn't meet with Sirius again until the day before Draco's party. The session had been intense and left him feeling drained. He may be able to cast the spells, but his core wasn't strong enough to cast them frequently or for long periods of time. Sirius had told him it would take some time for him to get used to it. They had only gone over one new curse that day, and the rest had just been more practice with the curses from the first session. Harry didn't mind though as he understood it would take repetition for him to master each spell and become proficient with it.

After the training was done for the day, Sirius asked Harry to stay for a minute as he had something important to talk to him about. Harry was curious so he decided to hear what his godfather had to say.

"Tomorrow while you are at Draco's party his father, myself, and some others will be meeting to discuss something rather important. If all goes well then sometime next week you and I will be taking a visit to France. All I can tell you is that it has something to do with the Dark Lord and so I must ask you now. Are you willing to support the Dark Lord when he returns to power?"

There it was, Harry couldn't put it off any longer. He had to choose a side now. It wasn't fair in his opinion. He was still young after all, and he had a lot of growing to do. He hesitated for a few minutes while he made a decision, but finally he chose.

"I'll support the Dark Lord. I can't stand Dumbledore and because of my upbringing I'm strongly against muggles and anyone associated with them. Plus I enjoy the power that the dark arts gives me too much to stop now."

Sirius smiled and seemed happy that Harry had chosen to side with him. He clapped him on the shoulder and told him that he would see him in a couple days after the party. By then he would have more information as to whether or not they would be going to France. Harry left and headed straight to bed once he got home. He had no idea what Draco's party would be like but assumed he would need his energy.

Draco had written and said to arrive around noon, so Harry had gotten up around ten to get ready for the party. He wasn't sure what to wear, but figured if he wore something fancy he could always take it off and put on something less formal. So he had picked out his best set of dress robes and had one of his newest elves, Brandy, make sure they were wrinkle free and ready to be worn. At five minutes to noon Harry was walking down the stairs to his fireplace dressed in his formal robes (he had a pair of casual clothes shrunken and tucked away in his pocket just in case). He waited until one minute before noon then picked up a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace.

"Malfoy Manor!" he called out and was whisked away in a swirl of green flames.

As he came out of the fireplace on the other side he saw that his friends were already there and gathered around, presumably waiting for him. Draco was the first to notice his arrival and came over to shake his hand. Everyone else was wearing some form of dress robes as well so Harry assumed he was in his choice of attire.

"Happy Birthday Draco." Harry greeted his ally and friend.

Draco smirked, "Your elf showed up with a rather large package earlier. I haven't gotten around to opening it yet, but I have to admit I am curious if it will reach my high expectations."

Harry just smirked back in response to his statement/question. He had decided that since he had a tutor all of the dark arts books he had purchased would be useless to him. So he had wrapped them up since they weren't even used except for the one and told his elf to bring them to Draco. He knew his friend would eventually wind up practicing the dark arts anyway.

"I wouldn't suggest opening them in front of anyone else either." Harry said as he looked around and noticed there were a lot of adults he didn't recognize, probably friends of Draco's father from the ministry. Draco looked confused but agreed he would open them later anyway.

After their brief exchange Harry and Draco walked back over to the group and greeted the rest of his friends. He shook Blaise's hand and gave Daphne a kiss on the hand and a slight hug. Nott and he shook hands while he gave Pansy and Millicent the same greeting he did for Daphne. Crabbe and Goyle both nodded at him as they had food in their hands already. When he came up to Tracey he smirked and kissed her hand, but when she went to pull him in for a hug like he did with the other girls he kissed her right on the lips and then pulled away.

She looked like she was going to smack the smirk right off of his face as he turned and walked away from her and Draco couldn't help but laugh. "You just have to cause a scene don't you Potter?"

"Eh you know me Draco; I like to make an entry and a good first impression." Harry winked at Tracey as he said this.

Harry guessed the only thing saving him from getting slapped silly was the fact that the party was very formal and Tracey didn't want to embarrass herself or her family in front of whom Harry assumed very prominent people.

Draco led them all over to a side room which he explained his parents had set aside for him and his friends to hang out in. Apparently these birthday parties were just a chance for the parents to mingle and show off how elaborate their homes were. So for the next few hours the group sat around talking about what they'd done in the few days they'd been home. Around six o clock Draco told them that dinner was getting ready to be served and they should all go out and grab a table.

While they were eating Harry looked around and noticed that there were a few other students from Hogwarts he recognized. The Patil twins were there, Padma was a Ravenclaw and her sister Parvati was a Gryffindor. Harry had to admit he was surprised to see them there, but then assumed they probably only showed up because one of their parents was important or worked with Mr. Malfoy. Other than that he noticed the boy he had sat with on the train first year, Terry Boot, was there as was Cho Chang. There others but he only recognized that they went to Hogwarts and didn't really know who they were.

After dinner was done music began to play and people got up to go dance. Harry had no idea how to dance so he was perfectly content on sitting in his chair watching and making jokes with Draco and Nott. Unfortunately it seemed like Tracey had decided to get her payback. She walked up to him sweetly and grabbed his arm. She pulled him out of his chair and away from the table towards the dance floor. Realizing what was about to happen he groaned and made signs to his friends to rescue him. They turned the other way and pretended not to see.

"What's wrong Harry?" She asked him innocently, "It's just a little dance, it could be worse couldn't it?" He just mumbled something back at her. "What was that I didn't understand you?"

He sighed and looked up at her, "I don't know how to dance." It pained him to admit that he couldn't do something. Tracey suddenly took on a different attitude though.

"Oh, well I guess I'll just have to teach you then. Just follow along with what I do Harry. It's not that hard and I'm sure you'll pick up on it quick." Harry wasn't sure what to make of this nicer more caring Tracey. This was the second time he'd seen her like this and it made him uncomfortable. He enjoyed the sarcastic, teasing girl he knew. She placed one arm around his neck and grabbed his hand with hers. He wrapped his other arm around her waist since it was the only logical spot for it and then he just followed her as she stepped and danced around the floor. It turned out dancing really wasn't that hard. They danced for about 45 minutes and he had only stepped on her toes twice. As he led Tracey off the dance floor he got an idea and pulled her in the direction of the room they had all been in earlier. He poked his head inside to make sure no one else was inside before he pulled her in.

Tracey already had an idea where this was going, but she had no objections to it so she let herself be dragged along to the room. Once they were inside he pulled her over to one of the couches and he wasted no time in snogging her.

It was about 25 minutes later when the two came back out of the room after having fixed their appearances. They made their way back over to the table where there friends had all gathered.

Draco looked amused as they walked up, "I swear Potter, it's my party and you're the one getting the action. Where is the justice in that?"

At hearing this Pansy seemed to get some courage and walked up and sat right on Draco's lap. "You want some action Draco? How about this?" And she leaned in and kissed him right on the lips. It was brief and then she got up and sauntered back to her own seat leaving Draco speechless.

Harry pulled out Tracey's chair for her so she could sit back down. He was about to take his own seat when he saw Sirius walking towards their group.

"Hey Harry, we have to get going. I'm sorry to cut your visit short, but it has to do with what we talked about the other day." Harry heard the urgency in his godfather's voice and he said his goodbyes to his friends and followed Sirius through the floo back to the Black family manor.

"What's up Sirius? I thought you said we would talk about this in a few days."

"I thought we would to, but some things changed so we need to get to France sooner than expected. We have to be there in three days. Now you may be wondering why us and not just me. The reason is quite simple once everything has been explained. I was meeting tonight with the death eaters who are still loyal and not imprisoned. We've decided that we should start building our influence now since Snape has found a way to return the Dark Lord to his full body. It will take a while to track down the Dark lord and gather the supplies we need for the potion to restore him, but while a select few are doing that the rest of us are going to work on building our sphere of influence. "

"Alright that all makes sense, but I still don't understand why you need me to go to France with you." Harry said.

"Well when we go to France we have a specific target. His name is Jean Delacour and he is the French Minister for Magic. It just so happens that he has two daughters. One is much younger than you, but the other is only three years older than yourself. We have talked about it and wish for you to get close to this daughter. If you're close with her, it would be easy to introduce me as your Godfather and magical guardian. I could then start talking to him about how he views the wizarding world. Even if we can get him to agree on a declaration of neutrality that takes an ally away from Dumbledore when the war starts up again."

Everything was starting to make more sense in Harry's mind now. The plan while basic actually did seem like a good idea. And if everything worked accordingly then it would definitely be a large help to the war effort. Plus maybe he'd luck out and the daughter would be attractive and he'd get lucky. Harry told Sirius that was fine and he'd look forward to the trip.

"Good, now we'll both need to look the part so we'll be leaving tomorrow to go to the magical shopping district in France and buy some high end clothes. Not just dress robes, but casual robes and casual clothes. Yes it sounds like a feminine thing to do, but sometimes it's necessary to dress the part you're trying to play. While we're out there we will be staying in a medium sized villa that the Malfoys own. Before you ask, the reason we're going and the Malfoys aren't is simply because Lucius could not just disappear to France for weeks and leave his job. Your training will continue unfortunately you won't be able to do practical, but I can still teach you theory. We have a limited opportunity for you to first encounter Miss Delacour. As of right now in three days' time we know she will be going shopping. This will be your best chance to bump into her. Any questions?"

"No I don't have any questions, but you can still do practical with me. I've had the tracking charms removed from my wand since first year." Harry told Sirius with a smug smile on his face.

"Well that certainly is useful, now you can even use magic to locate the girl. Just think about what you're looking for and say the words point me and your wand will point you in the general direction. Now if there is nothing else go get some rest. Merlin knows we're going to have a busy next couple of weeks." Harry nodded and then he moved to the fireplace to floo home. He had a hard time sleeping that night with the excitement he was feeling from getting the chance to travel.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry walked through the crowds with his head held high and slightly leaned back. He was projecting a little bit of his magical aura to make sure no one came near him. The shopping with Sirius hadn't been that bad and he was now dressed in some of the finest clothes money could buy. They were surprisingly comfortable for formal clothes and he wondered if there were spells to make them feel that way. He had just conducted the point me spell and was walking in the direction his wand had pointed him. Sirius had given him a vague description of what the girl would look like, and then he had mentioned Harry would know if it was her or not by the way people acted around her. He wasn't sure what Sirius had meant by that until he came to a group of people who seemed to be all eyeing up someone. Judging by the way the guys were drooling and the girls were shooting jealous looks the girl that they were all looking at was at least part veela. She had long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. Her face wasn't perfectly round, but it wasn't too long either. She was developing curves in all the right places and had long toned legs. Overall she was very beautiful. Not for the first time in his life, Harry thanked his first mentor for teaching him to shield his mind. That way even if he did feel the veela's pull he would be able to throw it off. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the girl he was looking for. Luck seemed to be on his side as she was walking alone. He quickly made a beeline right for her. She didn't notice him until it was too late and he ran right into her arm. He kept walking like nothing had happened and that's when she turned to yell at him.

**FLEUR'S POV**

Fleur loved to go shopping and just to go for a walk in general. What she did not love was all the stares and angry looks she got. It wasn't her fault she was a veela after all, but everyone treated her like she should be able to control it. Today the streets had been especially crowded and it was really getting on her last nerve. She had just been thinking about turning around and going home when someone ran right into her.

Her first thought was that it was just someone too caught up in her veela lure to watch where they were going. But when the person kept walking she knew it was just someone who was rude, and she was going to let him have it.

**HARRY'S POV**

"Who do you think you are? Just bumping into me and not even apologizing? Do you even know who I am? My father is the Minister for Magic!" Harry had gotten exactly the reaction he had been hoping for.

"You might want to calm down before you start sprouting feathers. No need to make a scene after all. I apologize for bumping into you, but I needed away to get your attention. If I had come right up to you you would have naturally assumed I was under your influence. So by ignoring you altogether I proved that my approaching you wasn't influenced by your magic." Harry explained this all very calmly and rationally to her. Fleur still looked like she wanted to say something, but she calmed down and instead asked the obvious question.

"Why did you need to get my attention? I don't even know you."

"Well I've always been a fan of beautiful girls." Here Harry gave her a smirk," And I was hoping I could convince you to accompany me to lunch. Eating alone is never good for one's appearance after all. So what do you say? Allow me to make up for my rudeness by paying for your lunch at any restaurant you choose." Harry wasn't sure if his plan was going to work, but if it didn't he was going to have to do some serious thinking on the fly to find another way to start talking to the girl without her getting suspicious.

The girl thought about it for a minute before she finally opened her mouth. "Fine, I'll go with you only because I'm tired of being stared at and glared at. At least with you I can have a decent conversation while I eat since you're not drooling. My name is Fleur Delacour by the way. What's yours?"

Harry offered her his arm which she graciously accepted and gently linked her arm through it so he could escort her to the restaurant. "I'm Harry Potter. So you said your father was the Minister for Magic earlier. Was that true?"

"Yes it is, papa is very important here in France, that's what keeps most people away from me despite the veela charm. They are afraid of what will happen to them if they hurt me. I admire your boldness though, Mr. Potter. Although you are clearly not from France, so is the rest of your family here as well? You seem too young to be traveling on your own just yet." He noticed she hadn't said he was too young in an offensive or derogatory way, rather it was just stating a fact.

"My family is dead; they were killed in the first war. However I am traveling with my godfather who was recently freed from Azkaban after being proven innocent. Perhaps you've heard of him...his name is Sirius Black."

"Oh yes, Papa had mentioned something about him being freed the other week. I wasn't aware of what he was imprisoned for, but I know that Papa had just laughed about how poorly the British justice system worked if they allowed an innocent man to rot in prison for so long."

By this time the two had reached a rather fancy looking restaurant and Harry asked Fleur if this would be suitable for lunch. She said it was fine and the waiter escorted them around back to a table close to the edge of a wooden deck. The deck overlooked a pond and gave the two of them a beautiful view. He took their orders and told them it would be about twenty minutes before their food was ready. Once he had left the two continued their conversation.

"So what exactly brings you and your Godfather to France Harry?"

"Well before he was arrested my Godfather was quite the ladies' man. And like I said I enjoy the company of beautiful girls. So he decided that a little vacation was in order for us, so that we could get to know each other a little better and really start to bond. After all I haven't been able to talk to him at all for twelve years. I just had the distinct pleasure of meeting the most beautiful girl in France though. So I'm sure he'll understand if I disappear for a few hours."

Surprisingly Fleur blushed a tiny bit. Harry figured since she was a veela she would be used to the comments about her appearance. "My, my Mr. Potter flatter will get you everywhere when it's sincere and not influenced by my "natural charm" shall we say. So where do you attend school?"

"I attend Hogwarts right now. I'll be entering my third year coming up. I've been top of my year for the past two years now and plan on maintaining that standard. What about yourself?"

"Third year? So I was right in assuming you were young. Such a shame, the first boy I meet who isn't drooling all over me and you have to be so much younger. Oh well, maybe in a few years, oui?" She winked at him after saying this and Harry felt a smirk form on his face. "Anyway I go to Beaubaxtons which is an all-girls academy here in France. I will be starting my sixth year there, and while I am not top of my class I am certainly no slouch and am within the top ten."

"All girls academy? Well that must cut down on some of the annoyance of being a veela at least. No boys who just randomly come up to you or fall over themselves at school. "Harry stated.

"You would think, but non. The girls there are all afraid I will steal their boyfriends from them when they come to visit so the try to ostracize me and talk behind my back. I have only a few friends I can count on at the school." Harry noticed she was starting to get depressed talking about it so quickly made a conversation change.

"Well I would like to be able to be your friend if you want. Perhaps we could write letters to each other? I could have one of my house elves deliver it back and forth that way we would not have to strain one of our owls. I'll just make sure that one of my elves knows to listen for your call that way if you need time to respond you can just call their name when you want to send a letter."

Fleur immediately brightened up, "I'd like that very much Harry. So how long do you plan on being in France? Perhaps we could see each other again." Harry could tell she was slightly nervous asking, probably afraid that he would be turned off if she was too pushy.

"I would enjoy that very much. I'm not sure exactly how long we'll be here, but I'm sure we'll see each other again." Further conversation was halted when there food showed up. The two made small talk about the things they learned at school and what their favorite subjects were. After they were done eating Harry paid the waiter and the two walked to the front of the restaurant.

"I had a good time today Harry, thank you for lunch. I'm sorry I was so rude to you earlier. Here is my address so your elf will know where to find me when you send a letter. I hope we get to see each other again soon." The girl leaned down because she was slightly taller than Harry still and kissed him on both cheeks. At Harry's confused look she elaborated, "It is just a French custom Harry. Normally it is for people who haven't seen each other in a while, but I do not know the next time we will see each other so I thought it appropriate." Harry nodded and waved good bye as he watched Fleur walk back in the direction they had come from, presumably she lived somewhere in that direction. Once she was out of sight Harry turned around and waved at a black dog that had been wandering around the restaurant since they had gotten there. The dog followed after Harry as he walked, and once he hit a secluded area the dog transformed into a person.

"That was brilliantly done Harry. You played excellently on her weaknesses to get her to trust you. This may go faster than I thought. And if that happens, it means the rest of the time here I get to enjoy meeting beautiful French women so keep up the good work Pup." Harry enjoyed getting praise for his work since he didn't get any growing up. He wasn't going to let down his Godfather and he planned on making this a huge success for both of them.

For the next few days Harry didn't write to Fleur. He had told her he was here on vacation with his Godfather after all. They were supposed to be spending time getting to know each other. Which in truth, the two of them were doing while Harry was being trained. But if he were to write her everyday then it would seem like he had a lot of free time. So he waited to write to her. He finally sent his letter to her after a particularly painful training session with his godfather. Because Harry picked up on the curses so easily Sirius had started moving onto learning how to defend against them and dodge them. He never put enough power in the spells to do lasting damage, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt when he got hit with a fire whip. On the plus side it had given Harry ample opportunity to practice his healing spells. After all if he wasn't confident enough to use the spells on himself then he couldn't heal his friends if they needed it.

Harry had taken a shower and cleaned himself up and was now making his way to the restaurant he and Fleur had eaten at last time. She had wrote back asking if it would okay to meet there. And since Harry didn't know too many other places in France he had said that would be fine. Sirius was once again in his black dog form and wandering around the area. Harry only had to wait about five minutes after he showed up before he saw Fleur coming. She smiled when she saw him and harry walked up to her and gave her a kiss on her hand in greeting.

"Such a charmer you are Harry, you're going to be real trouble for the girls back at Hogwarts in a year or two. I can see it already so don't even try denying it." Harry wasn't sure what there was to do in France so Fleur suggested they could go for a walk down the main shopping area and see if there were any shops that caught there attention.

One of the first shops they stopped in was a tiny chocolate shop. Apparently it had some of the best chocolates in the world though, judging by the price. Harry wasn't concerned about the price however and bought chocolates for Fleur and himself. She had insisted she could pay for her own, but he wasn't going to hear any of it.

Every so often he would catch a glimpse of the black dog he knew to be his godfather following him. He hoped Fleur didn't start to notice and get suspicious. Their next stop together was a fancy clothing store. Fleur had complained she didn't have any new bathing suits for the beach yet, and Harry wasn't going to pass up a chance to see the beautiful blonde girl in a bikini. Harry sat by the changing room while Fleur tried on bathing suit after bathing suit. Every time she put on a new one she would come out and model it for Harry asking his opinion. He was sure she knew the full effect she was having on him and only modeling to tease him. After about an hour or so she had picked out four new bikinis to wear. Once she had paid they left the store and headed for a bench across the road. The two were sitting down talking and eating the chocolates that Harry had bought when someone yelled out Fleur's name.

"Mamam, Gabrielle!" Fleur shrieked and ran up to the two. Harry assumed that these were Fleur's mother and younger sister. It was funny seeing all three together. It was like seeing an older and younger version of Fleur. And if that was really what Fleur was going to look like when she got older Harry knew the guy who won her heart was going to be very lucky. The three were talking in very fast French which Harry had no idea what they were saying, except for Fleur pointed in his direction once or twice.

Harry stood up as Fleur brought her sister and mother over to the bench. "Harry this is my Mamam and my younger sister Gabrielle. " Harry kissed Fleur's mother's hand and he waved and smiled to Gabrielle who giggled and hid behind her sister. Harry just let out a little laugh at the girl's reaction.

"So this is the boy that my daughter hasn't stopped talking about since she came home the other day. I must say you have such class for someone so young, and you have good taste in clothing. I see why my daughter seems to be so smitten with you." The more her mother talked the redder Fleur's face got.

"Mamam! That's not true at all!" Fleur was denying it but Harry could tell by the blush in her face that it was definitely the truth.

"Mrs. Delacour it is a pleasure to meet you. I see where Fleur gets her good looks from now. "Harry could feel the veela magic in the back of his mind, but he had slammed down his mind shields to keep it from affecting his judgment. Admittedly it was getting harder with three veela in such close proximity.

If possible Fleur turned even redder and this time Mrs. Delacour laughed at her daughter as well.

"Please Harry call me Apolline. My daughter mentioned you were here on vacation with your Godfather. However, if you two happen to have a free night my husband and myself would like to extend you an invite to our manor for a home cooked French meal and some dessert." Harry fought hard to keep his smirk down _Perfect this worked better than hoped _he thought.

"Thank you Apolline, I will have to talk to my Godfather, but I will write to Fleur in a day or two to let her know if we are able to attend. Speaking of my Godfather I should probably get going as I promised I would spend some time with him after I was done seeing your lovely daughter." Harry kissed Fleur and Apolline's hands and gave Gabby a hug before he turned and walked away into the crowd.

Two days later found Harry and Sirius in the study room at the villa discussing their next move.

"Now we've gained an invitation to their home. This has gone much faster than I thought it would. We can't get ahead of ourselves or over confident now. Not playing down what you did, but that was the easy part. Now it's my turn to work some magic. I'll have to lure Jean Delacour into a discussion about politics. Which considering I'm from a very old family which did at one point have ties here in France, and he is the Minister, shouldn't be too difficult. You've done real well Harry, I'm proud of you."

"Thank you Sirius. That means a lot to me." Harry wasn't sure what else to say.

Sirius fished around in his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a shrunken book. He then enlarged it with his wand and tossed it to Harry. Harry gasped when he read the title. "Since you are moving so fast through the dark arts I figured we could learn a little something else to. I can coach you through the whole thing; the book is really just so you have a reference. This," he pulled a blue potion in a vial out of his pocket," is the revealing potion. It will let you fall into a meditation like state. Kind of how you do for your occlumency, except you'll find out your animal form while in the trance. It'll take most of the summer but by the end of it you should be able to do the transformation as well as me." He tossed the potion to Harry who caught it and looked as if he had just been handed the key to every Gringotts vault.

"Can I take it now?" He could barely contain his excitement at being able to become an animagus.

"Sure Pup, go ahead and take it and I'll write a letter back to the Delacour's letting them know we would love to have dinner with them. I'll set it up for a couple of days from now so you can have some time to recover after the potion. It also will give you time to practice with your transformation." Harry nodded his head and then popped the top off the vial and downed the potion. Within fifteen seconds he was passed out in the chair where he was sitting.

It was about 45 minutes later when Harry woke up out of his trance, a huge grin plastered on his face. He stood up quick out of his chair to try and find Sirius only to find himself going face first into the deck as the dizziness overcame him.

Sirius heard the loud crash and came running into the room. When he saw his godson he let out a loud laugh. "Let me guess got up a little too fast there Pup? Alright since I know you're dying to tell me, what's your animal?"

Once Harry had recovered from his fall he sat up and grinned again. "I'm a black fox. I don't know if the color has any specific meaning, but I think it's awesome. How do I start transforming?"

"Well I know that in ancient times a black fox was thought to bring bad luck on anyone who came across it. And as to starting the transformation that's easy. You're going to slip into your meditation state and focus on one part at a time transforming. Start with something small, like your legs turning into fox legs."

"Alright I can do that!" For the next three or four hours Harry sat in the study room and attempted to change his legs into fox legs. By the end of the four hours he had managed to transform one of his legs, but couldn't get the second one to change past growing hair.

Sirius told him that was enough practicing for the day, and reluctantly Harry gave in. He went to his room in the villa and laid down. He was just about to fall asleep when a pop in his room had him jumping out of his bed with his wand out. It turned out to be Brandy, the house elf he had assigned to go back and forth between him and Fleur.

"Brandy is sorry to be disturbing master, but Miss Fleur is having difficulty sleeping and is wondering if she could come see you. " Harry wasn't sure what Sirius would think, but he didn't want to wreck anything by turning Fleur down so he told Brandy to tell Fleur to use the floo and call out Malfoy Villa before she stepped in. He walked out to the floo entry and waited for the blonde girl to come through. He only had to wait a minute or two. Before she could say a word he made a shushing gesture with his hand and told her to follow him. He carefully and quietly walked back to the room with Fleur following him. Once they were both inside the room he cast silencing charms on the door and locked it.

"Thank you for letting me come over Harry, I just couldn't sleep and I was hoping that talking to someone might help me get tired. "

"No problem Fleur, you're welcome to visit any time you need. Just let me know before you pop over."'

"So Harry who's villa is this? You're last name isn't Malfoy and neither is your Godfather's."

_Shit I forgot about that, what am I going to tell her? Oh this is just a death eater's villa we're using while we stay here and try and convince your father to join us. Not likely….wait Sirius and Draco are cousins!_

"Sirius is cousin's with the Malfoy's who are a very rich family back in Britain and they're letting us use their villa while we stay out here since none of our family homes are close by." Harry explained to her.

"Oh well that was very nice of them! There's something else I wanted to ask you to. How come you aren't affected at all by my veela charm?"

That was another question Harry had been hoping to avoid. How did someone who wasn't even thirteen yet explain how he knew occlumency? He went with the next best answer.

"I don't know to be honest. I could tell when I met you that you were a veela, based off everyone else's reactions but I never felt an unnatural attraction." Luckily she seemed to accept the answer. It seemed like she was out of questions for the moment so Harry walked over to his bed and climbed in. He then smirked at Fleur and said, "Come lay down with me beautiful, I promise I don't bite unless you ask me to." He added a little wink on the end to let her know he was playing around.

"Oi, Mr. Potter! You are way too young to be inviting girls into your bed with you." But even as she reprimanded him she was climbing into the bed. It was then that Harry noticed she was only wearing a short night dress. He tried desperately to control himself as she scooted closer to him, but to his embarrassment it was too late and she scooted right into his "wand" as Tracey had put it. They both blushed, but she didn't move away at all in fact she seemed to try and move back a little more into him.

"You've got a nice wand Harry; do you take care of it daily?" Harry was failing miserably to form a cohesive sentence. All blood had rushed to his lower regions and from the non-stop giggling Fleur was doing she knew that as well. His mind nearly stopped working when Fleur rolled them over so she was on top of him straddling his waist. She leaned down and placed little kisses all along his neck and then pulled his shirt over his head and started kissing all the way down his chest. She stopped right above his pants waistband and Harry thought the teasing was done, until she pulled his pants down and along with them his boxers. He was now fully erect right in front of her face. She brought her hand down and began to play with his balls and then Harry saw her open her mouth and go down. He felt the hot breath on his cock. And then she pulled away. She got off of him and laid next to him on the bed with a wicked grin on her face. "That's what you get for letting my mother tease me the other day."

Harry just let out a groan and pulled his pants back up. He left his shirt off though and rolled to face away from Fleur. She laughed at him to his irritation. "Oh don't pout Harry, maybe someday I won't stop. You're just a little young for me right now. Like I said though, maybe next year. "After she said this she came up behind Harry and made him lay on his back. Then just like Tracey had done she wrapped her legs up with Harry's and laid her head down on his chest. As disappointed as Harry was, he couldn't complain about having a beautiful veela sleep in his bed. He just hoped he managed to get up before Sirius came in the next morning.

"Sirius leave it be! It was three days ago for merlin's sake!" Harry's prayer of Sirius not coming into his room the night Fleur had spent there had gone unanswered. Three days had passed since then and he was still hearing about it.

"Oh come on Harry, it's not every day a Godfather walks in on his twelve year old godson in bed with a fifteen year old veela. This is something you're going to hear about for a long time. Besides you should be proud of it, even I hadn't pulled that off by twelve." Harry just banged his head on the table in front of him.

"Can we go practice some dark arts? I'm tired of working on my animagus form and I'm starting to get frustrated with how slow the progress is." Sirius agreed since they had a lot of time to kill before the two of them had to go to the Delacour Manor for dinner.

They had been lucky in that the villa had a dueling room, just like Harry's house did.

"So today Harry how about we try some more difficult dark arts. I was thinking The Unforgivables would do."

Harry was more than a little excited at learning the three most forbidden dark arts curses.

"Alright we'll start with the Imperius Curse. It allows you complete and total control over the person you cast it on. The curse can be thrown off though, so you will need to possess a stronger will power than your victim. You will need to crush their will to fight back and then they will do anything you command. We'll start small and work our way up. I'll conjure you a rooster and I want you to make it crow. In order to cast it all you have to do is point your wand and say the word imperio."

Harry watched as his Godfather transfigured a pillow into a rooster. He focused on his memories he used for all of his dark arts casting and let the feeling of hate over take him as he raised his wand and let the word flow out of his mouth in an almost loving tone. "Imperio" It was barely said above a whisper but the effect were instant. The rooster froze in what it was doing and just stood there.

It was weird it was almost like Harry was inside the rooster's mind. He had no time to waste as he had a task to do though. Focusing he commanded the rooster to crow. There was no resistance at all, the bird let out a loud crow, and then Harry broke the spell. "Flagrate Flagellum!" He hissed out and watched with pleasure as the whip tore through the rooster and the euphoria ran through his veins making him feel empowered.

"This is what I was worried about, you're letting the effects of dark magic control you Harry. Take control again. Stop being weak and put yourself back in control of your own mind. "Sirius didn't sound angry, in fact he wasn't even yelling but the commanding tone was still there. Harry's mind started to function again and he pushed the euphoric feeling down so he could focus. Once he had though he regretted it as he had a major headache.

"Yup that's what happens when you over exert yourself magically Pup. Your head will hurt for a while now so why don't you go lie down and rest before we go out tonight." Harry readily accepted Sirius's advice and barely made it to the couch before he passed out.

Sirius and Harry sat around the dinner table at the Delacour's house later that evening. Mr. Delacour sat at the head of the table with his wife to his left and Sirius to his right. Fleur sat next to her mother directly across from Harry, and Gabby sat next to Fleur. So far the conversation had been all small talk, nothing major in the way of politics. The meal had been delicious, but not much progress in the way of their plan had happened. So Harry decided to try and throw things in the right direction.

"Mr. Delacour, Fleur had mentioned you were disappointed in the way our ministry handled their justice system when I met her. She said it had something to do with the way they handled my Godfather's case." Mr. Delacour seemed to appraise Harry before he spoke.

"Yes I guess I did mention something like that, it is truly a sad day when a ministry sentences an innocent man to life in prison, only to find out he never should have been there twelve years later. If it was France such a thing never would have happened."

Sirius picked up in an attempt to not lose his opportunity. "Perhaps we could discuss what you would do to change our system Minister. I plan on applying for a job in the Department of Magical law Enforcement and any suggestions you have I could bring to them."

"Well certainly, but let us not discuss this is front of the women and your godson. Follow me to my den and we'll discuss this issue while the elves prepare our dessert for us." The two men excused themselves from the table and walked to a door on the other side of the room.

Apolline then stood up and excused herself saying she wanted to help the house elves make the dessert. That left Gabby, Harry, and Fleur alone at the table. Having a wicked idea Harry wandlessly and silently sent a tickling charm at Fleur. He purposely aimed a little lower though, and could tell by the girl's facial expression that he had hit right on. She made to swat at him thinking it was his foot, but there was nothing there. Gabby was looking at her sister like she was weird now, and Harry couldn't help but laugh at Fleur's situation.

"What did you do? You little prat, did you pour a potion in my drink?" The girl seemed offended and Harry could only shake his head no as he laughed harder at her situation. Once he got himself under control he cancelled the charm before Fleur lost control of herself. She seemed quite relieved, but managed to glare at Harry anyway. "I'll figure out what you did mister." Gabby just looked back and forth between the two of them with confusion on her face.

"Older kids are weird. I don't want to grow up." This threw Harry into another fit of laughter and even Fleur giggled and cracked a smile.

Sirius and Mr. Delacour returned when Apolline had announced that dessert would be served in five minutes. Sirius had a huge grin on his face while Mr. Delacour seemed to be in deep thought about something. That told Harry the plan had worked and at the very least the Minister was thinking over what Sirius had told him. The rest of the night went smoothly and ended with Mr. Delacour promising to meet again with Sirius to discuss more Ministry issues in a few days.

Four days after their dinner with the Delacours, Sirius announced they would be leaving France in three days.

"So you're plan worked then?" Harry asked him.

"For now it has worked yes. The minister agreed that as long as France was not attacked he saw no reason for him to side with Dumbledore and risk his citizens lives. In his last letter to me he said France would be a neutral country unless attacked by either side. That is the best we could have hoped for right now, with no actual war going on. Later on maybe we'll fake an attack by one of Dumbledore's men or possibly even our Ministry to make France side with the Dark Lord. Enjoy your last couple of days here. After we go back I'm throwing you full swing into training. You may not think so, but you've made a lot of progress with your animagus training. You've only been practicing for about two weeks and you can do a half transformation. That's incredible, you're learning about as fast as I did, possibly slightly faster."

Harry did as he was told and enjoyed the last days he had in France. Fleur was upset to hear he was leaving, but she promised to continue to write him, and hoped that he could visit again next summer.

Sirius hadn't been kidding when he said Harry's training would pick up when they got back. It had been almost a month since they had left France and Harry was able to transform completely into his black fox animagus. It was slow and took him more than one try sometimes, but he could manage it. The rest of the summer would be spent speeding it up and making the transformation consistent. After one particularly bad lesson with the dark arts Sirius had told Harry they would be working with some advanced light spells for a while to flush his system of the excessive dark magic.

_Flashback_

_Harry raised his wand and pointed it at the transfigured deer in front of him. "Crucio" he watched with a sick sense of pleasure as the deer twisted and convulsed in pain. The dark magic flowing through his veins made him feel so alive. He didn't realize how long he had been holding the spell until Sirius knocked his wand out of his hands and tackled him to the ground. All he did was lay there and cackle with a grin on his face._

_End Flashback_

Harry shivered a little at the memory. He promised to never let himself get like that again. He was grateful that Quirrell hadn't let him practice the dark arts until third year now. He would never have been able to handle it before this.

He had gotten back in touch with his friends after his trip to France; it turned out that Draco had loved his gift from Harry and said he had already read through half of the books. It was the most studying he'd ever done over the summer. Blaise and Daphne were still together and from what they had said their families were working on a marriage contract between the two of them. Normally marriage contracts were made when the children were younger, but in this case it was done just so no one in Slytherin would try and separate the two. After all purebloods respected the old ways.

Pansy and Millicent were both on vacation out of the country so they hadn't written him much. They few letters he had gotten from them said they were having a blast in Italy and Germany respectively. Each promised to get in touch more once they got back to Britain, and they hoped he was having a good summer.

Nott wrote to Harry telling him about some new books that had come into his father's shop. He said they had looked pretty interesting and if Harry was interested he could hold them to the side. Harry had written back and thanked the boy but told him he had found a mentor so he wouldn't require the books.

Tracey had requested he come over and visit her on his birthday because she wanted to give him his present in person. At first he had been a little nervous, but he decided to go over anyway. And that's where he was currently headed. He stepped out of the fireplace at Tracey's house and was quickly tackled by a blonde headed blur.

"Well hello to you to Tracey. I didn't know that pureblooded princesses lost all their composure and tackled people now. I must have missed that while I was on vacation." He couldn't help but tease his friend a little, after all that was what their whole friendship was pretty much based around.

"Shut your mouth Potter or I'll keep mine shut and you won't get your present." It took Harry a moment to process what she had said, but then she winked at him and his thought process went out the door just like it had with Fleur. _There is no way she is talking about what I'm thinking; it's just not possible_ at least that was what he thought. She grabbed his hand and led him up the staircase to her bedroom and suddenly Harry found himself laying on her bed in much the same position Fleur had him. Except this time when he felt the hot breath on his cock, it didn't pull away and it was followed by two wet lips. It was the most amazing thing Harry had ever felt. He held off as long as he could before he came inside his friend's mouth. At first she looked disgusted, but her expression changed as she swallowed it down. Harry didn't get embarrassed often, but one of his friends had just given him a blow job and he wasn't sure what to do next. Luckily for him, he was saved by the voices of Tracey's parents calling up the hall for her.

"Quick Harry get you clothes and hide in the closet. If my parents find you here, we're both screwed." Harry didn't question her and did as he was told. Once he was safely in the closet he quietly started to put his clothes back on. He listened through the door as Tracey talked to her parents.

"Mum, Dad you two weren't supposed to be back for hours. Is everything okay?

"Yes sweetie, everything's fine. Our meeting just ended early because some people didn't show up. We wanted to make sure you were still okay up here and that you hadn't run off. Did you have any problems while we were gone?" That was her father speaking.

"Nope I was studying for a bit, but then I fell asleep on my bed. You guys calling woke me up. "

"Okay, well if you didn't have any issues we'll leave you to go back to studying, or napping. Just make sure you have all your summer homework done. We'll be in our room down the hall if you need us."

Harry listened for the sound of the door closing and the footsteps of her parents fading away before he opened the closet to walk out.

"Okay Harry, I wasn't done with you, but we'll have to continue some other time. Right now you need to carefully sneak down to the fireplace and floo out of here." She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek before he left. Once he closed the door behind himself and no one could see he disillusioned himself and made a dash for the fireplace. He practically rolled through it as he called out number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Once he was safely through he dropped the charm on himself only to hit with a spell he hadn't seen coming. At first nothing seemed to happen, and then he started to change colors. He went through the rainbow and then it started over again.

"Oh this is real cute Sirius; let's just curse the birthday boy to be a rainbow. That's just what he wanted." Harry had already opened his presents from the rest of his friends. They had all either sent him books, clothes, candy, or joke products. Like Tracey, Sirius had asked him to stop by so he could give him his present. He doubted it would be anything near as good as what Tracey had given him, but he wanted to see his Godfather anyway since he was the only family Harry had.

"I'm glad you like it Pup, now come in the kitchen and blow up your birthday cake. I made it special myself just for you." Those words had put Harry on edge, the last time he had eaten something Sirius had made his ears had started to elongate and flopped to the floor. The man was really a child on the inside when he wasn't teaching Harry about the dark arts and how to kill people.

Harry warily followed Sirius into the kitchen, being extra careful to watch out for more pranks already set in place. He walked up to the cake and was surprised to see it actually looked fairly normal. Nothing out of the ordinary, so he decided to take a chance. He blew out the candles and quickly jumped back just in case the cake decided to blow up in his face. His reaction had Sirius laughing and commenting about paranoid people.

Feeling a little bit braver now that the cake hadn't exploded in his face Harry cut a piece and handed it to Sirius. He cut himself one and then sat down and waited.

Sirius looked at him expectantly. "Come on Pup you know the birthday boy has to eat the first slice. That's how this works."

"Oh no, not this time. I'm already changing colors. I think it's your turn to eat the cake." Sirius looked nervously at the cake before he slowly took his fork and ate a bite.

Nothing happened to him so Harry decided that the cake must have been okay. He almost felt bad for accusing his Godfather of pranking his birthday cake. That is he almost felt bad until he bit into his slice and almost instantly he felt his tongue go numb and start to grow. Sure enough when he looked over at the Sirius the man's tongue was now flopping out of his mouth. The two looked at each other and broke out in laughter. Harry couldn't help but feel like this is what his life should have been like from the start. He and Sirius could have had so much fun together if only Remus Lupin hadn't stopped him. He was another person that was on Harry's payback list. He was the reason Sirius had gone to prison after all.

Once Sirius had fixed both of them he went and got Harry's present from upstairs. Which was somewhere Harry still hadn't ever gone. In all the time's he had been to Sirius' house he had never left the first floor. His Godfather came down a few minutes later with a long rectangular box.

"I thought this would come in handy in your coming years considering some of the things you'll be doing at school now that you've chosen a side." Harry opened the box and gasped, inside of it was a knife with a 6 inch blade and between a 4 and 5 inch handle. It wasn't very decorative and seemed very plain so Harry was at first confused until Sirius elaborated. "That blade will open almost any lock. All you have to do is run it along the lock or stick it in the lock and it will open. There are very few things it can't open. It's been a Black Heirloom for a while, but I think you need it now more than me."

Harry didn't know what to say. So he walked up and hugged his Godfather. The man had given him something that had been in his family for generations just because he was his godson. _Yes, Remus Lupin will pay for keeping Sirius away from me for so long._

It had only been a few days after his birthday that his Hogwarts letter had come. Because of his training though Harry had put off going to Diagon Alley until only a few days before September 1st. He was meeting up with Draco in Diagon Alley today, along with Theo and they were all going to get there supplies.

The alley was packed as Harry worked his way through it to meet up with his friends at Flourish and Blotts. It took him a good ten minutes to make it to the book store which was almost double the time it usually took. It seemed like everyone had waited till the last minute to get there stuff. His friends were already outside the store waiting for him when he got there.

"Hey Draco, Theo! Sorry it took so long. It seems like all the mudbloods and their families are out today. The bloody alley is packed." He complained to his friends. He was a little surprised at first by his causal use of the word mudblood, but just attributed it to the fact that he had heard it for the past two and half years.

"It's no problem Potter, and yes you're right. It seems like all of them are out today and the air absolutely reeks of their stench." Harry was surprised hearing something like that come from Theo was normally the quiet one. He had certainly changed over the summer. _Then again, so have I _Harry thought_._

It took the three of them no time at all to find their books, and they went to check out and saw the line was about fifteen people long.

"I am not waiting in that ridiculous line just to pay for some stupid school books." Draco announced. Harry had to agree with him. The line was way too long for them to wait in, so he decided that he wasn't going to. He walked to the front of the line and dropped his books on the counter. The man behind the desk started to argue with him that he couldn't cut until Harry pulled out 20 galleons and told the man it was a tip for allowing him to check out now. The man quickly shut up and charged Harry for his books. Seeing that what he had done worked, Draco and Theo followed suit with what their friend had done, much to the annoyance of everybody else in line.

Their next stop was the apothecary, which wasn't nearly as crowded as the book store so they got their ingredients and were in and out in no time. All of them already had robes that fit, so the only things they had left to get were treats for their owls (or devil bird as Harry had started calling his). Once they had the necessities they went to the quidditch store to see what the newest thing was. On display in the front window was a broom called the Firebolt, and it was advertised as the fastest broom in the world. Draco was practically drooling, and Theo looked on with interest.

"With that broom no one would be able to touch me as a chaser. I wish father had given me enough to get it." Draco whined out loud. Then they all heard a voice they wished they could have avoided until they got back to school.

"Aww poor Malfoy, his death eater daddy won't buy him a new broom." Weasley taunted. And right behind Weasley stood Longbottom and Granger.

"I'd watch your tongue Weasley; you shouldn't talk bad about your betters. After all one of my robes probably costs as much as your entire house. Ron's ears turned bright red and Harry knew what was about to happen. Ron leaped at Draco and tackled him to the ground. Harry went to pull the Weasel off his friend when he was suddenly hit by a spell and knocked backwards. He looked up to see who had cast it when he saw Longbottom with his wand out.

He noticed Theo had managed to get Weasley off of Draco so he focused on the boy-who-lived for the moment.

"Really Longbottom? Guess you're going to be expelled for using magic during the summer. Good job, you've really proven yourself now."

"As if Potter, Professor Dumbledore got me special permission to use magic so I could train during the summer. I told you I would beat you someday. Just wait till we get back this year, I challenge you to a duel. Just wait till you see what I've learned." With that said he called for Ron who was being held back by Granger. The boy looked like he wasn't done, but started to walk away anyway. Harry couldn't let them get away thinking he had won though.

"Don't worry Draco I'll pay for the Firebolt, in fact I'll buy one for the whole Slytherin team. I may not play, but at least I can watch you guys use them to squash the rest of the teams." Harry made sure it was just loud enough for the Gryffindors to hear. If Longbottom hadn't grabbed him Weasley would have been charging right back at them.

True to his word, Harry went inside and told the shop owner he wanted to purchase 7 Firebolts. The man looked like he was nearly ready to faint. He told them to deliver the brooms to Professor Snape at Hogwarts with a note saying they were a donation for the Quidditch team. The man said that would be no problem as long as Harry had the money to pay today. Harry simply spoke the amount he needed into his pouch and then poured the galleons out on the counter. Once again the man looked a little faint as he collected all the money. As they left the shop and got ready to Floo back to their homes Harry couldn't help but wonder how good Longbottom had gotten over the summer. He was actually looking forward to dueling the boy.

It was September first and Harry had everything packed. All he had left was to let Hedwig out of her cage so she could fly back to Hogwarts. He cautiously approached the cage knowing very well he and the owl hadn't been on great terms…well ever. Before opening the cage he brought it right up to the window and turned it so the door was facing out. Now all the bird had to do was fly out and it'd be free. "Hedwig, I'm going to open the cage and let you fly to Hogwarts so you don't have to ride on the train." Harry carefully slid the cage door open and then made to run for it, but the bird just sat there.

"What the hell? Hey bloody bird get flying." That was the wrong thing to say and Harry realized it immediately. The bird flew out of the cage and headed right for him. He quickly summoned his trunk and through it out the door. He closed the bedroom door behind him. This time he had his wand so there was no reason for him to go back in. He walked down the stairs and was about to floo to Sirius's place so he could apparate them to King's cross when there was a knock at the door. It was strange because he never had visitors here. He went and opened the door only to get the wind knocked out of him as a white ball of feathers collided with his stomach. It got up and walked up his chest till the bird was right over his face then it bend down and pecked him in the nose and flew off.

"RUDDY BIRD!" No matter how long he had that bird it always got the best of him in the end. He shut the door and then turned and shrunk his trunk down. He put it in his pocket and was about to floo again when Brandy popped into the room.

"Master Potter sir, I is having a note from your missy Delacour."

Harry nearly burst out laughing at what Brandy had started calling Fleur ever since they began writing.

"Well give it here, I'll read it once I'm on the train back to school. I have to go meet Sirius now." The elf obediently handed over the letter and then popped away. Before anymore distractions could happen Harry threw the floo powder in and called out his destination.

He arrived at Sirius's house to find his Godfather waiting in the foyer for him.

"Morning Harry, excited to be going back to school?"

"Yes actually, I like being here and training with you, but Hogwarts was the first place where I felt like I really belonged."

"I understand that, that's how I felt after my family disowned me. We've got some time so I figured we could go over a couple of the light spells you learned this summer to get rid of any residual traces of dark magic on you."

"That's a good idea, plus it'll get me in the habit of not jumping right into the dark arts. That would be disastrous at school. I think I'll start with the patronus. Something that powerful and based off of happiness should remove most traces left on me." Sirius nodded his agreement and stepped back to watch his godson do something very few full grown wizards could.

"Expecto Patronum!" And out of Harry's wand shot a fully corporeal patronus. It had taken the shape of a panther for reasons unknown to Harry. He had finally achieved the full results about midway through summer after his birthday. Sirius had said that his magic might have gotten stronger after his birthday which could be the reason he could now cast the patronus with ease. He could even use it to send messages now. According to Sirius that had been one of the Order's favorite ways to send messages during the First War since it couldn't be intercepted.

Harry cancelled his patronus and went on casting some of the other spells. He had attempted to put together a spell chain but found it to be much harder than he originally thought. He had only managed one so far. A spell chain was a number of spells that were casted in quick succession where the wand movements flowed into each other so there was no break in motion.

He cast for a good twenty minutes before Sirius cut him off and said they had to go so they wouldn't miss the train. He walked over and grabbed Harry's arm and then the two disappeared with a loud crack.

They couldn't appear right in the center of the train station for obvious reason so Sirius had brought them to an alley right outside the train station. The two walked out of the alley and through the gates leading to the barrier. It only took them five minutes or so to get there, but Harry let out a groan as he saw who was currently going through. The whole Weasley family was standing outside the barrier taking turns going through. Harry thought he was off the hook when they had all gone through before he reached it, but when he came out on the other side the Weasley matriarch spotted Sirius and came bustling over.

"Sirius! I can't believe they had you locked up this whole time and you were innocent. I never believed them when they said you had gone dark. I knew there must have been something else going on, but there was nothing I could do. Dumbledore had told us you were a death eater and no one dared to argue it." Sirius had stopped listening about halfway through her rant.

"Molly please, I'm not in the mood to deal with this right now. I'm just here to see my Godson off to school and then I'm leaving." At this he pointed to Harry and Molly visibly frowned.

"Oh well, alright then. Maybe some other time we can catch up. It's been so long." She then scurried back over to her children and began wishing them all goodbye.

Harry spotted Blaise and Daphne with their parents and pulled Sirius in their direction.

"Blaise, Daphne how have you two been?" Harry hadn't spent much time with either of them this summer, but they were still the first two friends he had so he would never just ignore them.

"Hey Harry! It was great; Daphne and I are now officially betrothed. Our parents agreed the wedding would be done right after we graduate from Hogwarts. How about yours? Anything exciting happen?"

_You mean other than convincing the French minister to become a neutral country in the case of a second war? Harry thought, no nothing interesting at all._

"Not really, I spent the summer getting to know my Godfather a little bit better since he's been locked up all this time. And it turns out we've actually got a lot in common." Harry wasn't prepared to go to in depth with anyone on just what he had done this summer. Harry gestured towards Sirius who was in a discussion with Daphne and Blaise's parents.

"Hey we should probably get on the train. Sirius I'm going to get a compartment! I'll make sure to write."

"Alright Pup, have a good school year and remember don't do anything I wouldn't have done." Sirius smirked after saying that and Harry returned it knowing just what type of person his Godfather was, and that meant he could almost anything.

Harry boarded the train with Blaise and Daphne following right behind him. He hadn't seen Draco or anyone else outside which meant they probably had a compartment somewhere already. As he was walking along looking in the compartments he stopped at one and his blood ran cold. It wasn't the fact that Longbottom was in the compartment; it wasn't even the Weasel in the compartment. It wasn't even the fact that Cho was in the compartment laughing and flirting with Longbottom. It wasn't that mudblood Granger, no. What made his blood run cold was the man sleeping against the window with his suitcase tucked at his feet.

"Remus Lupin." Harry ground out. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to rush into the compartment and kill the man where he slept.

"Wow mate are you okay?" Blaise had noticed how angry his friend had gotten and decided it would be wise to step in and get him out of there.

"No, that man in that compartment is the reason Sirius went to jail for all those years and now it looks like Dumbledore hired him to teach here. I hate that man."

His two friends exchanged worried looks and gently pushed Harry in the direction away from the compartment before he blew up. It took them another minute before they found a compartment filled with all of their friends. Everyone's greeting seemed to die on their tongue as they took in Harry's murderous expression.

Draco was the first to speak, "What's…"

But one look from Blaise and Daphne shut him up. Harry sat down and ignored everyone for about thirty minutes. The silence was getting to him though and finally he stood up and walked out the door. Blaise tried to stop him that he was fine he just needed to go for a walk and take out his frustration.

He found an empty compartment after walking for a minute or two and shut the door and curtains. It was then that he remembered he had a letter from Fleur to read. He hoped it would be good news and something to get his mind off of the fact that he was on the same train as the man responsible in part for his Godfather going to jail. He took the letter out and began to read it.

_Harry_

_I greatly enjoyed your last letter and the way you described your owl to me. I'm sure she can't be that bed and you're only exaggerating. Next time you visit you'll have to bring her so I can see for myself. I know this letter is catching you late as you are probably trying to get ready to go back to school, but I wanted to write you and let you know that I missed you. Any way I look forward to hearing about your adventures at school this year._

_Your Friend_

_Fleur_

It was a simple letter and short, but it made Harry smile. Although he dreaded the thought of trying to get Hedwig to France to prove to Fleur just how evil the bird really was. For the moment it calmed him down enough to where he could go talk to his friends and not feel like any little thing they said would make him blow up.

He stepped out of the compartment and collided with someone. He stumbled but managed to catch himself. When he looked up his happiness left him completely.

"Oh my, hello Harry. It's been so long since I last saw you. You were only a little baby then. Gosh you look so much like James, but you have Lily's eyes. I don't know if you know who I am but I was a friend of your parents while they were at school. My name is Remus Lupin."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: So this chapter took a while because I'm in the military and we're prepping for a deployment. I usually only write as a stress reliever, but I've just been super busy. This is by far one of my least favorite chapters, it is being used to show how Harry's training is about to become more intensive, that the rivalry between Longbottom and Harry is going to start to heat up and not be so one sided in the future. It's more or less a long set up chapter. I don't particularly like third year, there isn't going to be much happen in it and it's going to go fast, maybe 2 more chapters. Then 4****th**** year hits and the fun really starts :) I expect a lot of negative reviews on this chapter, but as long as they offer constructive criticism or suggestions I look forward to them. **

Harry's first instinct was to whip his wand out right there and just end the man's life right where he stood. One spell would be all it took. _It would be so easy to do it too_ Harry thought. Luckily for the man Harry's rational side took over and he used his shields to hide the anger. When he responded it came out in a neutral tone.

"Nice to meet you sir, I assume you'll be our new Professor this year for defense?" Harry ignored everything the man had said about him looking like his parents and jumped right to what he wanted to know. What infuriated Harry was that the man chuckled.

"So inquisitive and that would be an accurate statement Harry. You must be a Ravenclaw." At hearing this Harry smirked, so the man didn't know.

"Actually I'm a Slytherin and I'd appreciate you not grouping me together with those bookworms." Lupin's face was priceless, it was almost enough for Harry to lose his composure and burst out laughing, almost.

"You're a Slytherin? But that's absurd! There's never been a Potter in Slytherin before. How did that happen?"

Harry bit back his response of "I put that hat on my head and it yelled Slytherin." Instead he settled for a less sarcastic one. "I'm ambitious, I want to be powerful and the hat said I'd do well in Slytherin." Deciding to skip through the rest of the mindless conversation Harry asked something meant to throw the man off guard. "So out of curiosity, how did you convince Dumbledore to hire you with your...condition?" During the summer Sirius had explained to Harry exactly why he had learned to become an animagus. Quite frankly he knew Dumbledore was insane, but hiring a werewolf to teach children seemed ridiculous for even the eccentric old man.

Lupin visibly flinched and Harry internally smiled at the small victory. "So you must have at least spent a little time with Sirius if you know about that then. Well to be honest I asked him the same thing when he initially offered me the job. The simple answer is because of you."

"Me? How do I have anything to do with Dumbledore hiring you? Unless he wanted you to…" He stopped mid-sentence as it hit him. "Dumbledore wants you to talk to me and find out exactly how much time I've spent with Sirius. I bet anything he still thinks that Sirius is dangerous and doesn't want me getting too close to him. That's it isn't it, you're here to be a watcher and make sure I haven't been doing anything I'm not supposed to." Harry could no longer contain his fury by the end of his sentence.

"Calm down Harry, yes that is part of it. However he also asked me to give you some extra lessons. He said you had a lot of potential and it would be wasted just letting you go through Hogwarts learning nothing but the normal curriculum. So what do you say? Once or twice a week stop by my office and I'll tutor you."

"Respectfully I'll have to decline, sir. I don't need any more studies. I'm already working on remedial potions lessons with Professor Snape and my schedule is quite busy." He didn't know if his lessons with Snape would be continuing, but it gave him a real excuse that he knew his Head of House would support if questioned. Remus frowned, whether it was the fact that he wouldn't be spending extra time with Harry or that he had failed in his assignment Harry didn't know, nor did he care.

"Well if you'll excuse me Professor I have to get back to my friends, I've been gone a while and who knows they may think I'm bothering the Hufflepuffs without them." If anything Harry's comment made the man frown deeper, but Harry just turned around and walked away with a smirk on his face.

"Round one to me Lupin, better luck next time." He said to himself before he entered his compartment and greeted his friends pretending that nothing had happened.

The rest of the train ride went smoothly for Harry. He refused to leave the compartment again for fear that Lupin may try and track him down. He sat silently and read for the most part, occasionally responding when he was asked a question by one of his friends.

The train pulled into the Hogsmeade station and Harry and his friends quickly grabbed up their trunks and headed towards the carriages. They were supposed to be horseless, but Harry stopped upon seeing a massive skeletal looking horse attached to the front. He had read about them somewhere, but he couldn't quite remember what they were called. He walked up to it and laid his hand down, only to see his friends look at him like he was crazy.

"What it doesn't look that scary." This response only earned him more confused looks.

"Harry what are you talking about? There is nothing there." Now it was Harry's turn to be confused. Why couldn't they see the beast? His answer came from the strange blonde haired girl, Luna, he had met last year.

"They're thestrals Harry, only those who have seen death can see them." After Luna said this she pet the beast on its snout and walked away disappearing into a crowd of younger years.

Blaise was the one to break the silence. "Blimey Harry, I didn't know you'd seen someone die. I've heard about thestrals, but I had no idea there were some right here at Hogwarts."

Malfoy spoke up as the group divided into two because they all couldn't fit in one carriage. "Father has mentioned them before; he says they are actually quite a rare breed now. Apparently they are mostly extinct, or that's what everyone thinks. But who really knows if the only people who can see them have to have seen someone else die."

The topic changed to happier things, like classes and which Hufflepuff to torment first for the rest of the carriage ride up to the castle. Once the carriages reached the top of the hill they all got out and started to make their way through the great doors towards the dungeon to drop off their trunks before the feast started. Harry wasn't much in the mood for walking, so he called for Twink to have the elf take his trunk to his room. He told his friends he would wait outside the Great Hall for them.

Harry was leaning casually against a wall next to the Great Hall watching as everyone passed by him. Some people looked warily at him, probably still not sure he wasn't the heir of Slytherin. While others would barely spare him a glance. In fact the only one who passed that made any outward notice of him was Longbottom. The boy looked at Harry, smirked, and then tapped his wrist with his wand. Harry wasn't entirely sure but he guessed the boy was trying to let him know that his time was ticking. Harry didn't think anything of it; he just waved and smirked back. He wasn't going to be beaten by the boy wonder. No matter how much training the boy thought he got, or how hard it was for him Harry was determined to always be the best.

It wasn't long after that until the group of third year Slytherin's came walking up. Everyone around them gave the group a large birth as they knew that getting in a Slytherin's way usually didn't end well.

Harry joined up with the group as they made their way over to the table and took the same seats they had last year. The only exception was that Goyle had moved so that Harry could sit next to Draco, and Tracey had pushed Blaise out of the seat next to Harry so she could lean against him. Blaise had been furious, and started muttering about how disgraceful it looked for a pureblood of his status to be laying on the dirty floor. This caused the group to laugh as they all knew Blaise tended to be a little high maintenance when it came to his appearance. Not that they didn't care about their appearance, but Blaise and Draco were always competing over who looked the best.

Everything was almost back to normal, just like they had never left last year. Harry was enjoying himself immensely as he joked and ate with his friends. Perhaps the only black spot on the whole evening feast was that Dumbledore announced Remus Lupin as the new Defense professor. After the feast was over Harry and his friends made their way quickly out of the hall so as not to get stuck behind the long line of first years. Unfortunately for Harry the Headmaster was waiting right outside for him.

He bit back his comment about stalking being illegal even in the wizarding world, and instead just followed the Headmaster up to his office like he was asked.

Harry refused the seat that was offered to him, and instead waited for Dumbledore to get on with it. He didn't have to wait long.

"Harry I brought you here to discuss Professor Lupin. He has informed me that he met you on the train, and that you showed no interest in his offer of extra lessons. I thought one such as yourself, being top of your year and all, would jump at the opportunity to pull ahead." The old man really did a good job at acting like he had no idea why Harry would turn down such a great offer.

"With all due respect Headmaster, I just don't think I would benefit from any of those lessons. I've done a lot of independent studying the past years, and" here Harry decided to really make the man concerned "Sirius was giving me lessons all throughout this summer break. Theory only for obvious reasons, but it was still very helpful and I just don't see any reason to relearn stuff I already know."

His comment had the desired result as Dumbledore struggled to hide his grimace when Sirius was mentioned. "Harry that is something else I would like to talk to you about. I do not think it wise for you to spend so much time with Sirius. You see, he was freed from prison thanks to someone with a lot of money buying a good lawyer and putting together a good case. The only problem is that no one knows who freed him or why. It is my fear that he was freed by one of Voldemort's many followers so that he could get to you in an attempt to either kill you or turn you from the light." The old man took a pause here and gazed down at the young Slytherin in front of him hoping to gain some insight as to his thoughts. It didn't work and Harry's impassive mask stayed in place, but inside he was smirking. _How close you are to the real truth Dumbledore. _

"Headmaster you are not my guardian and as such have no say in who I see or do not see. I will continue to talk to and visit my Godfather until he gives me a reason not to. He has shown me nothing but kindness and hospitality this summer. He even took me on vacation with him! I don't like what you're implying about him and ask that you stop before I report you for slandering an Ancient and Noble family." Harry wasn't about to stand there and let the Headmaster get away with trying to turn him against his Godfather, even if some of what the man had said was true.

"Very well then Harry, I do apologize about what I said. However, what types of things was Sirius teaching you this summer? I ask merely from an educational position to make sure it is appropriate for your age and magic abilities."

_Yeah right old man. You just want to know if he showed me the dark arts._ Harry cursed himself for projecting his thoughts so loudly and forgetting the man in front of him was a master legilems. Instead of responding, he picked up his wand and cast the patronus. The Headmaster's eyes nearly bugged out of his head at seeing the ease at which the third year had conjured a fully corporeal patronus.

"Aside from the patronus charm he also taught me the theory behind spell chaining. We covered some more advanced stunning and shielding spells as well. Was that all you wanted to know Headmaster? It's been a long day and I'd like to get to see some of my friends before I go to bed."

Having nothing else to keep the boy longer the Headmaster sighed and dismissed him. Harry walked down the door and headed back towards the dungeons. He didn't plan on going to the common room or seeing his friends at all, but there was no reason for the Headmaster to know that.

**Headmaster's Office**

"Remus he is gone you may take the cloak off now." The air shimmered slightly, and then the body of Remus Lupin appeared in the corner where there was previously no one.

"Well that didn't exactly go as planned did it Albus? Harry is so much like Lily, always has an answer to every question. "

"Yes, he is so much like Lily, but I haven't really seen any of James in him yet. What else is bothering you Remus? Your natural shields are good, but I don't need to read your mind to know you are thinking about something." The Headmaster smiled and chuckled as if remembering a time when he had said something very similar.

"You know I've never been good at hiding emotions Albus, I was always the one who gave us away when we got caught pulling a prank. Do you really think Sirius is dark? I mean the case they put together was so convincing, I want to believe so badly that my one time friend is innocent, but at the same time if he is innocent and I was the one who turned him in then I ruined his life for the past 12 years. I took him away from Harry, and I don't know if he or really they will ever forgive me for that."

Dumbledore could tell his former student was upset with himself, and worried about what he'd done. In all honesty Dumbledore didn't think Sirius would ever want anything to do with Remus again, but Harry might be persuaded to at least give the man a chance if he was kept away from Sirius long enough. He suddenly had a brilliant idea, he could make it so that anytime a letter for Harry from Sirius came to Hogwarts it was intercepted. It seemed harsh to cut a boy off from his Godfather, but if in the end it kept the boy safe and on the light side it would be worth it.

"Remus I don't know what to tell you. All I can say is that you should probably try and talk to Harry at the very least. Maybe if you spent enough time talking to him he would eventually warm up to you. I do warn you, he is quite popular among the Slytherins and even some other students from Ravenclaw. If he is with his group of friends I would ask you do not try and get in with them as they are all children of Voldemort's followers."

That had caught Remus off guard for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Not only was Harry in Slytherin, but he was friends with Death Eater's children. For the first time Remus was actually worried about how Harry was going to turn out if he was keeping company like that already. He had a lot to think about, and a lesson to get ready for in the morning so he dismissed himself from the Headmaster's office and went to his quarters.

**Great Hall**

The first few weeks of term had passed without anything happening really. For the first time in a long time it was looking like there might be a quite year at Hogwarts, with no issues or anything. Harry had been doing a lot of studying, and he was working harder than ever to make sure Longbottom didn't pass him in any classes. It seemed like the boy had finally gotten serious about not only studying in class, but doing outside studying. As such Harry had taken to devoting extra time to practicing. He knew he could beat the boy in a duel or fight, but there was no need to let the boy who lived have even the small victory of beating him in Herbology or some other pointless class.

He and Tracey hadn't had any alone time since term had started, but with a Hogsmeade weekend coming up he was hoping that would change. In fact it wasn't just Tracey he hadn't seen. Because of his new found studying tactics he hadn't been able to see any of his friends much at all. About the only person he had any regular contact with was Fleur. She had sent him multiple letters talking about how school was going and how she couldn't wait to see him again.

Every time he received a letter from her he couldn't help but smile a little. Being in France working with Sirius like he had, it just felt so right. It was like that's what he was meant to do. At first he had been wary about choosing a side so young, but now he knew he had made the right choice. They only had one class today and it was potions with the Gryffindors, so it promised to be fun as he would get to watch Snape tear into Weasley and Longbottom.

Harry walked into the classroom with Draco at his side, the two split up since they were the best brewers in their year, and it was always better for Slytherin to have two perfect potions rather than one. So Harry went and took a seat next to Goyle, and Draco sat next to Crabbe. It was a new plan the two had come up with at the beginning of the year. If they sat with the two and gave them simple jobs that didn't involve actually brewing then everyone in Slytherin produced passable potions. Their Head of House had caught on right away to what they were doing and awarded them 25 points each for "willingness to assist struggling students."

As the last few Gryffindors slinked in right before it was time for class to start Professor Snape came out of his office.

"Today you will be brewing a very basic antidote. It will cure most poisons and even the dunderheads, here he paused to look at Weasley and Finnigan, should be able to brew it without messing up. The ingredients and directions are on the board. You have two hours beginning now."

The class quickly set to work on their potions. Harry began setting up his station while he had Goyle gather everything they would need. He always checked over the supplies once Goyle brought them back to make sure they were the right ones. It was about halfway through the class and Harry had almost finished with their antidote. All that was left was to stir it counter clockwise 9 times, and then put a stasis charm on it and let it sit. However, he decided to make a little experiment with the stirs. He remembered reading in one of his books that stirring clockwise for 7 times actually brought out more of the magical properties in the billywig stings they had used. Deciding to take a chance he switched the directions, and to his immense relief the potion turned the exact color it was supposed to. It even seemed to crackle with magic as it sat. Overall Harry thought he had done better than usual thanks to his adjustment, but would have to wait and see what Professor Snape said about it.

Potions wasn't as much fun as it normally was as Longbottom was able to keep his mouth shut and not cause a single disturbance. As much as he didn't like the boy, Harry was impressed by how well the boy had started to contain his emotions. It was almost as if… his eyes widened as he looked at Longbottom again. Could Dumbledore have started to teach him to shield his mind? The meditation state would make it much easier for the boy to remain calm even in bad situations. Harry mentally groaned and hoped he was wrong. Otherwise he had just lost one of his key advantages in being able to read the boy's surface thoughts.

Harry let the potion sit and handed in a vial of it right before class ended. He told Goyle not to clean out the excess just yet because he wanted a couple vials for himself. It was always useful to have a poison antidote on hand. He was one of the last people to hand in his antidote, and Snape looked like Christmas had come early when he saw that the antidote looked perfect.

"Look what we have here students. Mr. Potter and Mr. Goyle have brewed a perfect antidote. You should all strive for this degree of excellence in your brewing. Take 10 points each for making a flawless potion. Class dismissed, clean up your areas and get out." Everyone grabbed up their stuff and started to file out, "Not you Mr. Potter, please stay back I need to talk to you."

Harry wasn't sure what he had done, so he calmly set his stuff down and then made his way to the front of the classroom where his Head of House was waiting.

"So Mr. Potter care to tell me how you made that antidote? It wouldn't have come out as well as yours did following the normal instructions. You modified them and I know it."

Harry kept his mask in place; the only sign of acknowledging what his professor had said was the slight upturn of the corner his lips. "You caught me Professor; I had read over the summer that stirring clockwise for 7 times in any potion where billywig stings were involved brought out the magical characteristics of it more."

"While I applaud you for your reading ahead and adaption of the directions I caution you to research things before you do it again. Had you done those stirs in certain other potions the added magic would have caused some very disastrous results. And I hate punishing my own house. Now onto more interesting matters. You will be resuming your remedial potions lessons with me twice a week. Also your dog misses you quite a bit and would like some treats from Honeydukes this weekend while you are at Hogsmeade." Professor Snape paused to make sure Harry understood the meaning behind his words. When the boy's face lit up in understanding he responded.

"Alright, I'll make sure to pick up some treats. Do you know anything else about that complicated potion Mr. Malfoy said you were working on? Is there any chance it would be done sooner than we thought?" Harry was both nervous and excited for the return of the dark lord. It would give him a great chance to prove himself and show his true allegiance to the people he trusted. Yet at the same time it would be the final step in cutting all ties from the light side and any connection he might have had with his parents. He didn't feel bad about choosing an opposing side, it happened all the time where families would fight against each other. It was what he believed was right and he would defend the pureblood ways until he died.

Snape seemed to think over what he was about to say before he opened his mouth again, "There is no word at this time, I haven't been able to do much research into where I can acquire some of the necessary ingredients. I will let you know when there is more information. That is all for now, you are dismissed." He didn't give Harry a chance to get another word in as he strode back to his office and shut the door behind himself.

Harry was surprised to see Daphne, Blaise, Tracey, and Malfoy all waiting outside the classroom when he walked out. They all had varying degrees of confusion on their face telling him they had heard at least part of the conversation. He hadn't planned on telling anyone about his choice just yet, but it looked like he was going to have to let them in on a little bit now. After all, it wasn't like he could just obliviate them all.

"So how much did you hear?" He knew that nothing he or Snape said was very straightforward, but Draco being Draco knew that there was at least a project the Death Eater's had been working on. He doubted any of them would get the dog part, and he was hoping he could just tell them that and work his way around the questions about the potion Professor Snape was working on.

His friends had the courtesy to at least look a little sheepish about being caught eavesdropping. In the end it was Draco who spoke up.

"We didn't hear much, just some things about a dog and Hogsmeade. We stopped listening after that because it wasn't really anything interesting or concerning us."

Harry was thankful that was all his friends had heard as it made the whole explaining a lot easier. "Well come on then, we got to go somewhere I can explain what's going to happen this weekend at Hogsmeade." Harry led them along the hallways in the dungeon until he reached the statue where his room was located. He hesitated for just a second before hissing the password. Everyone except Tracey stood with their mouths' wide open.

"Quick get inside before someone else sees us here. I don't want it advertised that I have this room here." That snapped his friends out of their stupor and they quickly filed into the room.

After they had all filed in Harry quickly turned and shut the door. When he turned back to face his friends he laughed at the expressions of awe on their face.

"Welcome to Salazar Slytherin's personal room while he was at Hogwarts. I know most of you have been wondering where I stay every night, and now you know it's not in Tracey's bed." Here he looked right at Blaise who simply smirked at him. Tracey turned red and punched Blaise right in the arm.

"You thought Harry had been staying with me you git? What do you think I am, some kind of harlot?"

"Hey! You two were all over each other at the end of last year I just figured it had moved to something more…besides you don't look to surprised that Harry has this room. So have you been here before?" Blaise's questioned stopped whatever reply Tracey had and she immediately adopted a neutral mask. Everyone in the group turned to look at her all curious as to what the answer was.

"Fine, so I knew about this room. It wasn't my secret to tell! And no I haven't been staying in here with him!" She looked directly at Blaise as if guessing his next comment. He wisely kept his mouth shut.

"So this is really Slytherin's room. There is so much history in here and for us this is like gold. Do you mind if we look around it Harry?" Draco looked like he had just been named minister for magic. Seeing no harm in letting his friends explore he told them to go ahead. They might even find out something about the room he hadn't known about.

They looked around for a good fifteen to twenty minutes in the main room and then Draco pushed open the door to the bathroom.

"This is huge! What in the name of Merlin does anyone need a bathtub this big for?" He looked quizzically at Harry.

"It wasn't a bathroom to start with, it was a breeding room. When I first found the room there was a basilisk in here. It was only a couple feet long at the time, but needed to bond with a wizard so it could grow and guard the chamber. Somehow it knew that the other basilisk had died. So after it bit me, it left and made its way to the Chamber of Secrets." His friends had all paled when he said the basilisk had bit him. _Probably wondering how I'm still alive Harry thought._

"Well now I don't feel so bad that you're always beating me in class." Daphne spoke up for the first time, "you've got a whole private room to yourself to study in without distractions."

"Speaking of studying and distractions, we're kidnapping you Harry. We've barely gotten any time to torment the other houses, or even just play a game of wizard's chess since this year has started. All you've been doing is reading book after book. It's just not healthy; you're starting to act like a Ravenclaw."

Harry smiled at his friends as they all nodded in agreement. It was different for Slytherins to show actual concern for one another, but they're group had grown close the past couple of years. _Maybe I'll be able to trust them with my secrets in a year or two_. "Alright, I mean I planned on going to Hogsmeade this weekend anyway. But I have to disappear for at least an hour or two on Saturday to meet with Sirius. He had some stuff he wanted to talk about. And that's what Snape was talking to me about. Sirius's nickname is the Dogfather. He was just letting me know I was supposed to meet with him." Everyone agreed that was fine and then Harry told them they were all welcome to stay and do their essays in his room tonight if they would like. And that's how the group passed the rest of their evening.

**Room of Requirement**

Neville threw himself to the ground to avoid the blue spell shot directly at his chest. He rolled to his right to avoid the follow up spell coming at him and then jumped up ready to return fire only to be hit with a disarming charm. He watched dejectedly as his wand flew from his hands and directly into the waiting palm of Albus Dumbledore. The man was smiling at his young pupil's clear disappointment.

"Don't get down on yourself my boy. I have had many years of practice at this, and you are still very young. Perhaps that is enough training for tonight though. We will meet again later this week to continue where we left off. Now how about some lessons on leadership, because that is what you are destined to be Neville."

"Actually sir there was something I wanted to talk to you about." Neville seemed to get more nervous now, but he gulped and turned to face his mentor so he was looking him directly in the eyes. "I want to challenge Harry Potter to a duel sir."

Dumbledore wasn't shocked by the boy's request. He had seen that the boy wanted to ask him about it last time he had scanned the boy's mind. Ever since then he had been weighing the pros and cons of letting the duel happen. If Neville were to win, then it could be used to show off his power and create a sort of following for the boy for his struggle that would be coming in the next few years. It would also serve to take away some of the influence the Potter boy had. Whether or not Harry knew it, people respected his power already. It was indeed true the boy was powerful and as of yet he had never been beaten in a duel by another student. Add in the rumor that he was responsible for Lockhart disappearing and no one had been able to figure out how he did it and the boy had a lot of pull. The only real negative he could come up with was if Neville were to lose the duel then he would look weak in front of the entire school. Luckily, Dumbledore was very good at making things turn out the way he wanted.

"Certainly my boy, I think it would be a splendid way to display a little bit of the power you are learning to harness. How does tomorrow night after the evening feast sound? There's no better way to kick off a weekend then an evenly balanced duel between two rivals."

"Really? Thank you Headmaster! I can't wait to see his expression when I beat him tomorrow. He'll finally have to take back what he said to me." Neville was so happy about being granted permission to have his duel that he barely paid attention to the lessons he was receiving the rest of the night.

**Headmaster's Office**

A knock on the door pulled Dumbledore from his thoughts. "Come in Harry!" He made sure to throw on a genuine smile so as not to tip the boy off that he was up to something.

Harry wasn't sure why he had been called to the Headmaster's office, but for the first time in a long time he was nervous. He hoped that the phoenix wouldn't decide to sing its blasted song. Being as subtle as possible he stole a quick glance to the side to see if the bird was present. Luck seemed to be on his side as there was nothing but a pile of ash on the pedestal where the bird had been. He had read up on the bird enough to know that it would be back in a few weeks, it was just going through its normal cycle and would regrow from the ashes.

Not knowing exactly how long he was going to be there, or why he was there in the first place Harry took the seat offered to him and patiently waited for the Headmaster to begin speaking.

The headmaster regarded the boy in front of him as he took a seat. He had seen the boy glance at the spot where his phoenix once was, and had expected the question of where it had gone to come next. The boy either had no interest or already knew because he hadn't said anything. It was one of the rare times that Dumbledore could get any type of emotion out of the boy, he had seen him visibly relax upon seeing the phoenix wasn't present. This troubled him greatly as the only people who had any reason to fear a phoenix were ones who had practiced the Dark Arts. He hated to think one so young had been exposed to such terrible things already. Perhaps the boy just had a fear of birds. That was what he was going to believe and he hoped he was right.

"Hello Mr. Potter I suppose you're wondering why I called you here this afternoon." The headmaster continued when the boy nodded, "Well Neville has told me he wishes to challenge you to a duel and that you had accepted. I have granted him permission to have this duel tonight after the evening feast so that the whole school may watch."

Harry couldn't help himself he laughed right in the man's face, "See what? All that's going to happen is that he's going to wind up beaten and looking like an idiot." Harry couldn't understand the man's logic of trying to make his Gryffindor golden boy look weak by losing a duel.

"Well you see Harry that's what I want to talk to you about. I think it would be beneficial if you were to only use a little bit of your impressive talent. Think of how much respect young Neville would gain for besting one of the school's best duelists. It's one of the many opportunities he will have in the next few years to gain support for the struggle he will face against the Dark when Lord Voldemort returns."

Harry didn't flinch at all at the Dark Lord's name, but that might have been because he was in shock that the headmaster had just asked him to throw the duel so that the boy-who-lived could gain respect. He wasn't dumb; he was backed into a corner with very few ways out. If he said no and showed hostility then it looked as if he was favoring the dark. Combine that with the fact that Dumbledore had probably seen him looking for the phoenix and he would be watched very closely from then on.

"Headmaster I am not willingly going to lose this duel. My pride won't allow it. I'm a Slytherin and we do everything to accomplish our goals. I can't risk losing the respect I have in Slytherin. If that is all you had may I be excused? I need to prepare for this duel after all."

Harry was thankful when the man had just told him to think over his decision carefully. He hurried out of the office quickly and made a bee line straight for the dungeons. He didn't put it by Dumbledore to try and force him to lose this duel. He needed to tell his friends about what had just happened.

On his way down he almost ran right into Pansy who was on her way to the library.

"Hey Pansy have you seen Draco or the others at all?" He had been running and so he was slightly out of breath.

Pansy flicked her hair out of her face and smiled at Harry. "No Harry I haven't seen any of them. But if you see Draco could you let him know I expect him to be taking me out on this Hogsmeade weekend.

"Sure Pansy I'll let him know for you." As Harry walked away he just shook his head. Everyone knew that Pansy had her eyes set on Draco, or at least the Malfoy fortunes. Draco had no interest in her at the moment though. It wasn't as though she was bad looking, but as the Malfoy heir had put it she was just plain and not very magically powerful.

After about five minutes more of walking he reached the Slytherin common room and spotted Draco playing a game of chess with Nott.

"Hey guys, so wait till you hear what the Headmaster wanted me for in his office." Both of his friends focused their attention on him, despite the loud protests of the chest set. By the end of him telling the story the two were laughing nearly as much as he had when the man had told him he was to duel Longbottom.

"He honestly expected you to throw the duel so that the poster child could gain more of a following? He must be even madder than we thought he was. Wait till I tell father about this one, he'll surely get a good laugh out of it as well." Draco said once he had managed to get his laughing under control.

"Well I for one can't wait for you to destroy that imbecile in front of the whole school. Please make him beg for his wand back, or you could even show him that you didn't think him a worthy opponent by tossing his wand over your shoulder and off the stage." Nott seemed to be very versed in customs of dueling and Harry guessed it was from being stuck working in the book shop.

Draco smirked and spoke up again, "I bet you wish you could use some of the curses from those books you gave me. They would certainly produce some entertainment."

"Somehow I doubt Dumbledore would approve of his golden child being put into a thousand pieces, or being burned alive." The three started laughing again at the image of a furious Dumbledore extinguishing Longbottom.

"So where are the others? I saw Pansy, who is waiting for you to invite her to Hogsmeade by the way Draco." Draco just groaned and shook his head. "But where did Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey get off to?"

"Well last I saw Blaise and Daphne had gone up to our dorms to _study_. I don't know where Tracey went, she ran off right after you got called to the headmaster's office said something about going to the owlery I think." Harry frowned and told his friends he was going to try and find her. He shot a stunning hex back at Draco when he made a comment about Harry just being jealous that she might be with some other guy.

Harry had originally planned on travelling all over the school to find her when he remembered the map he had given to Professor Snape. So he made his way to the Potion's classroom door and knocked. Professor Snape came to the door wearing a scowl, but it evaporated when he saw it was one of his Slytherins.

"How may I help you Mr. Potter? Anything would be a welcome distraction from the abysmal class of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors I have right now."

Harry laughed at how openly his head of house made fun of the other houses. "Sir I was wondering if I could take a look at that map I gave you. No knows where Tracey went, and I just want to make sure she's okay." Snape raised his eyebrows at a Slytherin showing concern to which Harry elaborated, "I've helped her with a lot of homework sir, she owes me and I can't have her disappearing before she pays up." Even if it wasn't true it was a more Slytherin reason for wanting to find his classmate.

"Come inside and wait by my desk Mr. Potter I will check for you." Harry followed the man inside and leaned against his desk when the Professor went into his office. The class looked up at the new person in the room but quickly went back to work when Harry growled at them. He observed one particularly nervous Hufflepuff drop his whole tray of billywig wings into his cauldron. Barely having time to register what was happening Harry threw up a wandless shield to protect himself as the cauldron exploded sending a bubbling potion goo all over. Professor Snape came storming out of the back room with fury etched on his face.

"Miss Davis is on the fifth floor Mr. Potter. She seems to be pre occupied in a closet with an older Slytherin." And with that said he headed straight for the idiot boy who had blown up his cauldron. As Harry closed the classroom door behind him he could hear Snape still screaming at the boy for being an idiot. He wasn't sure what to think about Tracey. Obviously they weren't dating so it wasn't like she couldn't see other people. That explained why she hadn't asked him to have some private time at all since school had started though.

He decided it wasn't worth his time, especially not when he had his eyes set on a certain French girl in a few years. He would never let a girl cause him to be depressed or go into some stupid rage. They just weren't worth it, there were too many of them out there for that. He made his way to his private room to work on some homework before his duel.

As the evening feast came to a close Dumbledore stood up and began to speak. "Now that we've all been fed and watered we have the pleasure of some entertainment in the form of a duel between a member of Gryffindor house and a member of Slytherin House. Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Potter would you both be so kind as to come up to the front and stand on the platform so everyone may watch."

Harry smirked as he got up and felt Draco clap him on the shoulder in a sign of support. The girls all looked shocked as Harry hadn't had the chance to tell them about the duel. Confidently he strode past the rest of the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws and made his way to the front of the hall where a platform had appeared. Harry was surprised at the confidence the Longbottom had, it seemed like the boy really thought he was going to win this duel. Harry planned on ending it as quick as possible to make the boy look like an idiot.

"Now the rules for this duel are no dark arts, no irreversible damage, and your goal is to disarm or incapacitate your opponent. Now please bow to each other and begin."

Longbottom went into a full bow and Harry smiledas he made a slight bow. _First mistake Longbottom don't take your eyes off your opponent._

"Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Protego!" Harry shot off two spells in quick succession in hopes of catching the boy off guard and then threw up a shield to absorb the red jet of light that had been shot at him.

Longbottom was still off balance from coming up out of the bow so fast and nearly fell right into the stunner. It was by sheer luck that the disarming spell was off target. Once he regained his bearing he was dodging again as ropes were shooting for his ankles and a purple spell was headed straight for his chest.

Neville was so angry; it wasn't supposed to happen like this! He was better than Harry Potter! HE WAS THE BOY WHO LIVED NOT HIM! "Difindo! Protego!" He fired off a cutting hex to try and give him some time to get on the offensive. His hope was short lived however as Harry made a flicking motion with his wand and Neville's eyes grew wide as his own spell flew back and hit him in the shoulder.

Harry was mentally patting himself on the back, he hadn't ever tried reversing a spell before as it was extremely complicated and required a caster to focus solely on that one goal. Against an experienced opponent he would never do it as he would be blasted the second he took his concentration off the duel. He just wanted to show off a little for the crowd though. And they were indeed lapping it up; there were murmurs and whispers spreading through the crowd about what he'd just done. With Longbottom injured and distracted by his wound he went in for the win. He covered his eyes and then cast, "Lumos maxima!" The bright flare of light temporarily blinded Longbottom and Harry went to cast the stunning spell only to find he couldn't move or speak. It was as if he was frozen in place.

_What the hell is going on! Why can't I move? _Then it hit him as he looked at the Headmaster's smiling face. _I'll kill you for this Dumbledore. _As he directed his eyes back to Longbottom all he saw was a jet of golden light collide with his stomach as he regained control of his body. He tried desperately to hold onto his wand, but it was ripped from his hands and flew about halfway between him and Longbottom. He wasn't going to let the boy win that easily though. He picked himself up and sprinted for his wand. The boy had been celebrating thinking he had won, and saw Harry too late to stop him.

Harry dove and grabbed his wand. He fired off a stunner and with only ten to fifteen feet between him and his opponent Longbottom had no chance to dodge. The boy crumpled to the ground in a heap unconscious. Harry quickly walked over and picked up his wand. He hoisted it above his head to show that he had won. The whole Slytherin house clapped and cheered at the victory. Some of the Ravenclaws clapped politely, but the rest of the Houses stayed silent or boo'd. The Weasley twins were perhaps the most vocal of their anger.

"Hey he was disarmed! Neville won the duel! You dirty cheating Slytherin."

Before Harry could respond a loud bang erupted in the Hall and Dumbledore called for silence.

"That was exciting! What a great way to start off our weekend. Allow me to enervate Mr. Longbottom before I announce the winner of this duel."

_He wouldn't dare take this from me. He knows that what I did was legal._ Harry thought.

Longbottom picked himself up off the ground and shook his head to clear the fuzz. When he saw Harry he looked ready to attack him on spot. He was only stopped by Dumbledore shaking his head.

"Now the winner of this duel is Mr. Longbottom as he was the first one to disarm his opponent. Let's have a round of applause for him."

Harry wanted to blow up, he really wanted to. The fury in him was only made greater when he looked to the staff table for support to find them applauding and smiling. Even Lupin was cheering; the man who had said he wanted to help Harry out and teach him was applauding at the unfair victory. The only one who wasn't was Professor Snape. He had an expressionless mask in place and just shook his head at Harry to say that he knew what had happened and it wasn't worth it.

Harry didn't want to be there anymore; he jumped off the stage and made his way out of the Great Hall. Draco came running out after him to make sure that he wasn't going to do anything stupid. Harry either didn't notice him or didn't care as he made his way to the second floor bathroom.

He paused in front of the sink and focused "_OPEN"_ he hissed out. Draco had caught up by now and gasped as he watched the sinks part at reveal a giant hole.

Harry walked to the edge and then turned around. "Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets Draco. Are you going to come with me or stand there?" With his invite given, he turned and jumped into the whole. Draco quickly followed his curiosity at what was inside Slytherin's chamber over riding his self-preservation.

He had expected to collide with something solid, but was surprised when he felt himself slow to a halt and then float gently to the ground. Harry put his wand away and then spoke again. "Follow me and keep your eyes down at all times until I tell you it's safe. There is a basilisk down here somewhere and I don't need you dead." Draco nodded quickly in agreement and kept his eyes pointed at the ground.

He heard Harry hiss something out again as they walked, and then heard what sounded like stone sliding away. "Wait here Draco." He obediently stayed put waiting for his friend to come get him.

Harry walked into the chamber and looked around for the basilisk. It wasn't anywhere to be seen but he wasn't going to risk it. _"Ssspeak to me Sssalazar Ssslytherin, Greatesst of the Hogwartsss Four." _The stone mouth opened and then he heard it. The basilisk came out of the mouth and reared up. It wasn't nearly as big as the first one, but it had certainly grown since Harry last saw it.

"_What issss you wanting young wizzzard? Why hasss you called me?" _

"_I have a friend down here and you are not to harm him. He will be very important later on."_

"_Very well, I will not harm the other wizard. Whatss will you be doing while youss is down here?"_

Harry had come down here for one reason he was pissed and needed to vent; he had planned on using the dark arts to let his anger out. But now he was remembering some of the lessons Sirius had taught him. Using dark arts when angry would cause them to not be as powerful and it would make him more susceptible to their draw. Righteous anger was not what he needed to practice the dark arts. He had to calm himself down enough to make sure he'd be able to cast.

"_We are going to practiccce ssome forbidden magics."_ Harry told the snake in front of him.

The snake nodded its head in acceptance and then slithered back into the mouth of the statue from where it had come. "Draco you can come in now."

He heard the footsteps of his friend as they echoed throughout the chamber. "It won't hurt me will it?" Draco sounded as if he was about to piss his pants.

"Yes Draco I brought you into a chamber where I plan to kill you, cause that serves so much purpose." Harry shot back sarcastically.

Before Draco could stop himself he retorted back, "Well you did it to Lockhart already."

Harry's wand was out and pressed against Draco's throat before the boy knew what was happening. "Don't ever mention that fool or that incident to me again. I don't know what happened to him nor do I care. Now let's practice some of those spells you read about. This place has no monitoring charms so we're free to do any magic we want."

For the next thirty minutes or so the two cast Dark arts spell after dark arts spell. Harry hadn't realized how much he had missed the feel of power running through his veins. He could feel it starting to take control of him so he decided one more spell would be it for the day. He had been observing Draco carefully, and had snapped him out of a curse induced madness a couple of times.

"Draco go back into the hallway that lead here. I'm about to attempt a spell for the first time and I don't know how it will turn out." The boy seemed reluctant to stop practicing the dark spells, but one glare from Harry got him to obey. Once the boy was beyond the door Harry sealed it and then used his mind shields to focus on what he was about to do. He had read about a spell that was a lesser version of fiendfyre. It didn't take on shapes nor did it have a mind of its own, it was just a large firestorm. It would give him an idea of the power needed to cast the actual fiendfyre spell without the danger of it overtaking him. He raised his wand and pointed it forward with a thrust of his magic an orange ball shot from the tip of his wand. A magical wind began to blow and swirl around the room. The orange ball caught in the wind and at first nothing happened it just spun in a circle, but then all hell broke loose as walls of flames sprung to life. The wind kept blowing causing the fire to spread more and more, burning anything it could that was in its path. Harry could feel his energy depleting fast and he let the spell go before he collapsed. It would do no good to have him and Draco both trapped down inside the chamber. As the last flames faded out Harry stood amazed at what he'd done. All the moss and mold that had grown in the chamber was now burned away and left a clean layer of ash on top of all the stone. Next trip he took down here he decided he would clean away the ash to see if the stone had become polished thanks to the high heat. He noticed that the room was significantly warmer now and it seemed to be holding the heat well. He imagined the Basilisk would appreciate that. With a final look back at the chamber promising himself he would visit soon he went to the hall to guide Draco back to the entrance.

Harry wasn't sure what to think about the outcome of his duel the night before. He hadn't lost a whole lot of respect from anyone especially not in Slytherin. The general agreement was that Harry had been cheated of a victory. He wasn't going to think on it any more than he had to since it had already happened and couldn't be changed. Instead he was getting ready to enjoy a couple hours away from his classmates with his Godfather. He had told his friends he'd meet up with them before they headed back to the castle.

As Honeydukes came into view Harry began to look around for his Godfather. It took about five minutes before he noticed the black dog lounging on the side of the building. Making sure no one was watching Harry slipped around the corner and motioned for the dog to follow. It obediently got up and padded along behind him. Once the two were completely out of sight the dog changed back into its human form. Sirius raised a finger to his lips in a be quiet motion and then gestured at a piece of rope he had pulled from his pocket. Harry grabbed a hold of it and then felt a tugging sensation behind his naval. The portkey yanked him forward and then he was landing in the familiar living room of his Godfather's house.

Once he had regained his balance completely and the room wasn't spinning Harry turned to his Godfather.

"So what's with all the secrecy and sneaking around Sirius?" Harry had said it with a big smile to show that he didn't really mind it, but the look on Sirius face as one of annoyance rather than the usual mirth.

"I have some bad news to tell you Harry. I have been trying to send you some letters via owl. And judging from the fact that you haven't responded at all I'm assuming someone may be tampering with your mail. If it wasn't for Severus and your house elf we might have been cut off from communication completely."

Harry was initially shocked, but as Sirius kept explaining what could have happened he became pissed off. When he was around Sirius was one of the few times that he could really let his emotions go. Who would dare try and interfere with his mail? The only people he could think of would be Dumbledore and Lupin. If that was the case there wasn't anything he could really do to stop them. For contacting Sirius he would just have to rely on his house elf.

"Is there anything else I should know Sirius or is that all?" Harry wanted to make sure all the bad news was out of the way now so they could start to enjoy their time together.

"No that was all I had. I figured you should know what was going on. I'm not going to leave you without information directly related to you after all. Anyway, tell me what's been going on? How have classes been? Have you made any new friends this year? "

Sirius was once again his lively self and Harry smiled at how easily his godfather could change his mood. He passed the time telling him about his classes and how easy they were for him now. He told him about the duel he had with Longbottom and what Dumbledore had done. At this point Sirius had raged about the old man meddling in Harry's life for no reason. Harry cast a tempus and noticed that his time with his godfather was almost up so he brought up something he had been wondering about.

"Sirius I have something I need you to answer for me." Harry was nervous, and when his godfather nodded at him as a sign to continue he just rushed out what he had to say. "I've been keeping in touch with Fleur and we've gotten to know each other really well. I know it shouldn't have happened, because I was just supposed to be playing a role, but I'm actually starting to like her. I need to know if this is going to cause an issue, as I don't want to stop talking to her, but if it's going to interfere with your plans then I will."

Sirius looked at Harry like he had two heads and then burst out laughing. Harry as confused, he thought he had asked a serious question and couldn't figure out why he was being laughed at. Finally Sirius pulled himself together and spoke. "I can't believe you just asked me if I was okay with you going after a VEELA Harry. A freaking VEELA who in case you aren't aware are always extremely beautiful. So in answer to your question go ahead pup. In no way is this going to affect my plans. In fact it may work better for getting her Father to cooperate if you and her do eventually wind up together. That's probably a bit down the road for now but we should always be planning ahead. Anyway you need to be getting back to meet up with your friends. I made a portkey for you that will take you back to the spot we left from."

Sirius handed Harry another piece of rope and they said good bye and Harry promised he would be home for the Christmas holidays and then he activated the portkey to take him back to meet up with his friends.

Tracey was following Harry through the dungeons towards his new room. They had excused themselves from their group of friends once they had gotten back to the castle. She was excited to finally get some alone time with Harry, but at the same time she knew that she was going to have to tell him about the other guy she was snogging. She had no idea how he was going to react and she was afraid it was going to ruin their friendship if he was having feelings for her.

They reached the entrance and Harry hissed out at the door to open and they both stepped in. Once the door closed he turned to her with that lopsided grin of his and that mischievous glint in his eyes. He came closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he pushed towards the wall and kissed her. She kissed him back at first, but then when he pulled back she opened her mouth to get out what she had to tell him.

"Harry I need to tell you I've been snogging another guy not just you. And I really hope this doesn't ruin what we have going on here cause you're a really good friend and so much fun to snog. "Tracey rushed it out to make sure she didn't lose confidence and stop herself. She was looking at Harry for any sign of anger or that he was upset, but instead he just smiled and leaned in and kissed her again. When he pulled back after the kiss he spoke up.

"I knew you were already. It's no big deal we already told each other we weren't looking for a relationship out of this. Besides…I kind of met a girl this past summer. So it makes us even I guess. But let's forget that for now." Tracey didn't bring up any of the questions she had anymore until they had both had their fun. The two of them were laying in Harry's bed relaxing when she decided to see if Harry would answer her questions.

"So Harry, are you going to tell me about this other girl at all? Where did you meet her? What's her name? What year is she in?"

Harry smirked at her and decided to get his teasing in, "Jeez Tracey, with all these questions people might think you were jealous and trying to see if she's competition to you."

Tracey did her best to look offended, "Like any girl could compare to my perfectness. I was merely curious as to how much you had downgraded from me."

"Well, maybe someday you'll find out but it's not going to be today. Now come on you needed some help with your transfiguration homework right? Let's get to work on that then I'll walk you back to the common room."

Harry was sitting in the potion's classroom waiting for Professor Snape to finish grading some assignments so they could start their lessons. He wasn't really sure what Snape was going to teach him, but knew the man was very skilled in a lot of different subjects. After about fifteen minutes Snape came out of his back classroom.

"Thank you for your patience Mr. Potter. From now on your lessons with me will mostly be about protecting your mind. You've reached a point where you need a master legilems to help you advance. Your defenses right now can keep almost anyone out, but what about those it can't? How do you plan on protecting yourself from them? That is what I'm going to show you how to do."

Harry was excited he would finally be able to advance in his occlumency. He had all but given up hope of going any further than he was until after school, but now he might be able to master the skill by the time he finished his 5th year.

"Now prepare yourself for a vicious assault, I am not going to take it easy on you and these lessons will probably drain you more than anything you've ever done. You're going to be forced to re live some of your worst memories. When I get through your defenses I want you to redirect my attack. In other words force me to look at memories that don't mean anything." Harry opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as Snape continued, "Before you say you can't remember it is your own mind. You are in charge of everything that happens in there. Ready yourself now, legilems!"

The sudden crash against Harry's shields nearly caused him to let his defenses slip. However he managed to regain himself and was preparing for what he knew he would have to do once his shields gave way. Harry slipped into his meditation state and then when he opened his eyes he found himself looking at the black sky that was his defense. At first glance there appeared to be nothing different, but then he saw it. There was a strange glowing spot in the sky that definitely was not one of the stars he had hiding his memories. In fact it seemed to be drawing the stars into it. That's when Harry realized what was happening. Snape was drawing in memories until he found something he could do use against him.

He needed to force the glowing spot into a series of memories that didn't mean anything. Concentrating on his goal he pointed his hand towards the spot and then began moving it towards a star full of useless classroom memories. The spot started to resist the movement and Harry had to will more power towards it in order to keep control of the movement. It took him a good minute before he finally managed to get the spot inside of the star. He let himself relax and enjoy the victory thinking that he had been able to stop his professor. Then suddenly the glowing spot he had decided to identify as a legilems probe shot back out of the star and went to work full force. It was only a matter of thirty seconds before Harry was forced to relive his time at the orphanage. As quickly as the memories started playing they stopped though.

When Harry regained his bearing and composure he found himself on the ground in the Potion's classroom. He had a massive headache and doubted he would be able to keep going tonight.

Professor Snape came over to him and handed him a vial with a light blue potion in it. Harry examined it briefly and then he drank it down. Almost immediately his head ache vanished and he could think a little more clearly.

"I'm very surprised Mr. Potter. For your first time ever attempting that you should not have even been able to move my probe, let alone actually succeed in trapping it somewhere."

"But I failed didn't I sir? You were still able to get to my memories and I couldn't stop you." Harry was confused as to why his Professor would be congratulating him on failing.

"That is true, I was able to see your memories, but it took a considerable amount of time and power on my part. As to the stopping me part, even though it was brief you did manage to trap me in a sequence of useless memories. With enough practice in this you'll be able to learn how to trap me there and keep me in there so I can't go any further and I'll be forced to withdraw from your mind. I would like to draw at least two more times tonight if you are up for it. I know this is very tiring so you may leave now if you wish."

Harry desperately wanted to get up and walk out, but he knew that Professor Snape was risking a great deal by teaching him the things he was, and he did not want to let the man down. With a courage, or perhaps stupidity, that he didn't know he had Harry stood up and faced Professor Snape. He nodded at the man as a sign that he was good to continue. And then the attack came again.

About an hour later Harry was walking out of the Potion's classroom holding his head. Professor Snape hadn't given him another headache potion after the last two attempts he'd done saying he would need to learn to deal with the pain of a forceful mind intrusion. As he began walking down the dungeon halls he felt his head starting to swim, and his vision was going black. Right before he passed out he managed to call out for his elves. He heard multiple pops around him as he fell to the ground and then everything went black for him.

Harry opened his eyes slowly, but had to shut them almost immediately as the light started to filter in and his head began to throb. He let out a groan and then he heard a door open and someone come bustling over.

"Well good morning Mr. Potter. Glad to see you're awake so soon. Do you remember how you got outside my door last night?" Harry recognized the voice of the mediwitch and he relaxed a little at knowing he was mostly safe.

"Honestly I don't have any idea Madam Pomphrey. The last thing I remember was leaving my remedial potions lessons with Professor Snape. What was wrong with me?"

"Nothing too serious, you just had a severe migraine of sorts. It caused you to pass out, but I'm not really sure what caused the migraine to come on. Maybe you inhaled too many potion fumes huh?" The mediwitch looked at him sternly.

Harry couldn't believe what he had just been accused of. "Did you really just excuse me of sniffing potion fumes? Does that sort of stuff happen often here?" Harry sounded skeptical when he asked his question.

"Not so much Mr. Potter, but it is just something I have to ask. Well you've missed breakfast, but your friend Draco stopped by and dropped off some toast for you. You may eat that and then leave for your next class." Harry didn't want to spend any more time than he had to in the Hospital Wing so he quickly ate his toast and then left to go to Charms.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: This will be the last chapter for some months. I leave on deployment within the week, so don't worry this isn't abandoned, but I will just not have internet access for a while. I am allowed to bring my laptop since we'll be on ship for a while so I will have plenty of time to write and hopefully have 4 or more chapters for this story once I get back.**

"Now today we will be working with boggarts. Can anyone tell me what a boggart looks like, and why it is something that even some powerful witches and wizards have trouble overcoming?" Lupin addressed his class of Slytherins and Ravenclaws.

Harry raised his hand as did Draco, Theo, Daphne, and all of the Ravenclaws. Lupin seemed mildly shocked at so many people being eager to answer his question. _Probably because he had the stupid Gryffindors before this Harry thought._

"Oh my, you certainly are more eager to answer than my last class, well Mr. Boot would you answer the question." Harry recognized the name of the boy he had met on the train ride his first year. He hadn't really ever talked to the boy after that. Sure they would acknowledge each other in the hall if there path's crossed, but being a Slytherin meant you normally didn't associate outside your house.

"No one really knows what a boggart looks like Professor, the reason for that is because the boggart will take the shape of a person's greatest fear. That is also the reason some people have trouble defeating one." The boy was rewarded for his perfect answer and given 10 points for his house.

"Now does anyone know the spell to counter the effect of a boggart?" This time fewer hands went up and Harry found himself wondering how you could know what a creature is and does and not want to know the spell to beat it.

"Harry would you be so kind as to tell the class the spell?" Lupin smiled at him in a friendly manner and Harry felt the need to put him in his place.

"Excuse me Professor, but we are not friends so I would ask you to not use my first name. The spell to repel a boggart is ridikulus. In order to cast it correctly the caster needs to concentrate on something that would make their fear comical and then say the spell."

Lupin's smile left his face when Harry corrected him on the use of his first name, but he managed to not sound upset when he awarded Slytherin 10 points.

"Now if you would all stand up and form a line in front of this wardrobe. Inside here is an actual boggart. We're going to practice the spell a couple of times without the boggart, and then you will all take turns trying to cast the spell against it. Wands at the ready now please flick your wand and say ridikulus." For the next ten minutes the class practiced casting the spell. Once it looked like everyone had it down Professor Lupin had the first person step up in front of the wardrobe.

Harry couldn't believe some of the fears the Ravenclaws had. The third person to go, their boggart turned into a failed assignment and the class burst out laughing. For the most part it was a lot of what you would expect to see a bunch of 13 year olds being afraid of; birds, death, fire, spiders, etc… Even as the Slytherins started to go their fears were almost normal for how they'd been raised. Pansy's fear was to have no money because she hadn't come from a particularly wealthy family like most of Slytherin. Blaise's was actually Daphne being hurt which surprised Harry a little bit, but was glad to see his friend really cared for Daphne. Draco's fear was his father telling him how disappointed he was in him. Then it was Harry's turn.

He stepped in front of the wardrobe not too sure what his fear was. The doors opened and the boggart jumped out. It took a second but then it formed into something Harry hadn't been expecting to see. It was himself, but his eyes were crazed. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to represent at first, but then realized this must be himself lost in the dark arts. Hoping Lupin hadn't figured it out yet he quickly cast the spell and the boggart changed into a normal Harry throwing stinging hexes at Weasley.

The rest of the Slytherins went and then class was dismissed, they were assigned an 11 inch essay on boggarts to hand in for the next class though.

"Mr. Potter would you mind staying back for a minute please?" Lupin spoke up as Harry and his friends started towards the door. The group exchanged glances and Harry just shrugged telling them to go ahead and he would catch up. The group hesitated for a second, but then all of them except Draco started to walk towards the door.

"I'll wait up here for you mate, you didn't seem to really like this guy on the train. Besides if he tries to pull any funny stuff I can back you up." Harry was going to argue with his friend, but decided it wasn't worth it. He thanked Draco and then headed down the steps towards the front of the classroom where Lupin was waiting.

"Mr. Malfoy you can leave now, I do not have anything for you." Lupin seemed slightly annoyed that the blonde boy had stayed.

Harry spoke up before Draco could though, "Actually professor I asked Draco to stay, you see I collapsed last week from a severe migraine of some sorts, and he's been walking with me to make sure I'm okay."

Draco just leaned back against the desk and smirked knowing there was no way he had to leave now since he was there for Harry's welfare.

"Very well then, I was just going to ask you about your boggart. Do you have any idea why it would change into you? Most people don't have a reason to fear themselves after all."

"Honestly I have no idea Professor; maybe I'm afraid to let myself down. That's a very common fear after all. Did you have any other questions for me?"

"Well yes, about that offer I made to you on the train, are you sure that you would not be interested in taking a few extra lessons with me? I can see you have some real potential and would like to make sure it gets fully explored."

Harry fought down the urge to roll his eyes at how desperate the man sounded. "I'm positive professor. My schedule is still really full this year especially with all the ancient runes homework and remedial potions lessons I have."

When Harry brought up his remedial potions lessons Lupin seemed to brighten up, "Ah yes, I looked into those lessons you have with professor Snape. Why are you taking remedial potions Harry? You have had the best potions grades along with your friend Mr. Malfoy since first year. Surely you don't need remedial lessons?"

"I don't appreciate people looking into my business professor. But since you seem so desperate to know, the lessons aren't for me. I'm tutoring other struggling Slytherins to make sure they will pass their class. We take care of our own in Slytherin."

"See I also thought that may be the case Harry and asked Professor Snape if that was what was happening. He insisted that it was just you though."

Harry was getting angry at being backed into a corner and caught in his lie. "Honestly professor I don't see what concern it is of yours if I want to take remedial potions lessons. It never hurts to take a refresher course on the basics after all. If you don't mind I'd like to go to dinner now." Deciding it was best to get out of the classroom before something bad happened Harry turned and walked out. Draco gave one last sneer at Lupin before he followed his friend out of the room.

The two walked in silence until they were out of the defense hallway. Harry was furious and didn't want to risk blowing up on Draco. Draco understood how mad his friend was and just let him be.

"Chamber tonight at 8 if you want to practice. " Harry spoke up once they had reached the stairs.

Draco just nodded his head but didn't say anything more on the topic. By the time they got down to the Great Hall Harry had managed to control his anger enough so that he would be able to talk to his friends.

When they entered the first thing Harry noticed was that Dumbledore wasn't present. The second thing he noticed was the Longbottom was also missing. _Probably giving him more lessons Harry thought._ He lost his appetite the more he thought about Longbottom being better than him. When they reached the table all of his friends wanted to know what Lupin had talked to him about, but he told them it was nothing to worry about. He grabbed a sandwich from the table and told his friends he was headed to the library.

As he was leaving Harry had an idea and turned to look at the head table to see if Professor Snape was present. He was, but seemed to sense someone staring at him and looked up. He noticed Harry almost immediately and must have realized he was trying to get his attention because he stood up and began walking out as well.

Outside the Great Hall Harry was waiting for Professor Snape, he only had to wait a few seconds before the man appeared.

"Yes Mr. Potter, what did you need me for?"

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you during dinner, but I was wondering if I could get a pass to the restricted section in the library. I'd like to do a little advanced rune studies and had heard that there were some good books there." It wasn't entirely a lie; Harry really was going to find books on runes.

"Certainly Mr. Potter I would never keep one of my students from advancing in their studies. I'll write you a pass that will be good for the year in case you wish to go back sometime." Snape pulled out a quill and some parchment from his robes and quickly wrote the pass. Once he handed it over he headed back into the Great Hall.

Harry made his way up to the library in a fairly short time thanks to a couple of short cuts he had found in the years he'd been at the school. Madam Pince looked up when he entered, but she didn't say anything else. He made his way to the front desk and showed her the note from Professor Snape. She eyed him suspiciously for a second before pulling out a quill of her own and writing Harry's name down on a piece of parchment.

"Excuse me ma'am but what is that?" Harry's interest was piqued upon seeing she had written his name down.

"This is a list of all students allowed access to the restricted section. When you're name is written on it you will be allowed to pass the gate to get into the section."

Harry nodded his head in understanding; it really was a brilliant way of keeping people out of places they shouldn't be. Then again, she could have been lying to him about what the parchment did also. Either way he didn't care as he was allowed access to it.

It took a little while to locate the section he was looking for, but finally Harry found himself in front of a shelf full of rune books.

Out of all his classes ancient runes was probably the hardest one, but it was definitely interesting. Runes were used in everything from warding homes to healing sick people, and even increasing power through rituals. Harry highly doubted he would ever do a ritual because most of the time the side effects weren't worth the gain. He was most interested in the warding aspect of runes. If he could find a good book on how to do it he planned on using the chamber to practice them. Originally he had planned on cleaning up the ash he left from the fire spell, but he had decided that maybe he could use it to draw the runes in. It would be much simpler than trying to carve the runes into stone after all.

After about an hour of searching he hadn't found anything helpful and was becoming frustrated. He was distracted when a pop sounded behind him. He quickly dropped the book and turned on spot with his wand out. He dropped his wand when he saw it was only Twink holding two letters.

"Master Harry Potter sir, Twink is having two letters for you. One is from yous Missy Fleur and the other is from yous Godfather."

Harry's frustration at his lack of success vanished when he heard he had a letter from Fleur and his Godfather. He reached out and took the letters thanking Twink for delivering them. The elf bowed low and then left.

Deciding to save Fleur's letter for last he opened the one from Sirius first.

_Pup,_

_Hey I just wanted to let you know we've made some progress in preparing the potion. We won't finish it until sometime next year, but that just gives us time to prep. Also I had an idea, that if Dumbledore was intercepting our letters that maybe I could prank him good. So I might have sent a hexed letter to you. If in the next couple of days you see Dumbledore with a rainbow beard you'll know he's been reading our mail. Before you worry about him figuring out that we know what he's up to I worded the letter at you explaining that this was payback for not responding to any of my previous letters._

_The Dogfather_

Harry let out a quiet laugh at the thought of Dumbledore with a rainbow beard. He shook his head wondering how Sirius managed to keep coming up with new ways of pranking people. Then he turned to the letter from Fleur and opened it. When he opened the letter a second smaller item fell out. When he looked down he saw that it was a photo. His heart nearly stopped when he saw what the photo was though. It was Fleur in one of the bathing suits she had picked out while he was there. But instead of her just wearing it sitting there innocently the picture would move and she would reach up and undo the tie letting the suit fall forward, and then the photo would restart. He groaned at what a tease veela could be and silently vowed to find a way to get her back. Putting the picture away for now he unfolded the letter and began to read it.

_Harry,_

_I'm sure by now you have seen the photo I included with this letter. I figured since you went with me to pick them out you should at least be allowed to see me in one of the suits. I didn't realize until afterwards that the photo went a little longer than I had intended. Oops, but I'm sure you don't mind all that much. Anyway I hope all has been well for you, it is almost time for our Christmas break. I love and loathe the holiday season at the same time if that is even possible._

_Anyway, what are your plans for the break? Hopefully you will be getting out of the castle and doing something fun. I know you have said you've been studying extra to stay at the top of your year, but you should also remember to have fun and maybe meet some girls if you haven't already. After all I want you to be nice and experienced when I decide to steal you away. _

At this part Harry could feel the smirk on his face and had to stop himself from shaking his head at how much she teased him. He was definitely going to make her pay. She was probably laughing the whole time she wrote this thinking about how he would take it.

_On a more serious note though you should really make sure to get out and enjoy the air. Well I will end this letter for now; I will await your response eagerly._

_Love_

_Fleur_

_P.S. I love chocolate covered cherries, and crème filled chocolates. Thought I would throw that out there with the holidays coming up. Xo_

Harry laughed at the last part and made a mental note about the chocolates. He was actually grateful for the suggestion because he hadn't been sure what to get her. Now he at least had one thing she would like, and he could come up with something else to go with it.

Deciding to call it quits on the rune research for now he put the book he had been looking at back on the shelf and cast a quick tempus. He still had almost two hours before he had to meet Draco to go to the chamber. He walked out of the restricted section and then found himself a table that wasn't occupied. He pulled out some parchment and began writing his response to Fleur. He was having trouble thinking of ways he could get her back when he had a brilliant idea. Instead of using his elf to send the letter, he was going to send Hedwig. His bird hadn't ever really gotten much use delivering letters and that may have been one of the reasons she seemed to hate him. Hopefully he could convince Hedwig to deliver the letter and show Fleur why he called her the devil bird. Just in case Hedwig decided not to pull the devil bird stunt though he would need something inside the letter.

Harry was thinking about what he could do when he remembered who his Godfather was. Sirius would know exactly how to get her back. He quickly wrote up a letter explaining what he wanted to do and then called for Twink. The elf quickly took the letter and vanished. Hopefully it wouldn't take Sirius long to send a response.

Harry only had to wait about ten minutes for his elf to reappear holding a vial and a small note.

_Harry_

_She sounds like a feisty little witch; they're always the most fun though. In order to get her back just put one of your hairs in this vial and stir it up, then put a couple drops on the letter. When she opens the letter it will smell almost as if you sprayed it with cologne or something, but for the next 24 hours she'll become extremely horny and only able to think about you. I found this potion in fifth year when a Ravenclaw girl decided she wanted to tease me every day in charms. Good luck and let me know how it works out._

Harry let out a loud "Yes!" in his excitement over having exactly what he needed and was immediately shushed by the librarian. He reached up and plucked a single hair from his head and dropped it into the vial. He shook it up and then waited a second to make sure everything was ready. He carefully dripped a few spots onto the letter and watched as they absorbed right into the paper leaving no sign of the droplets though. He quickly rolled up the letter and tied it shut. He gathered up the rest of his materials and left to go to the owlery.

"I don't think I've ever dreaded going somewhere as much as I hate this walk. I know I'm going to walk up here and get attacked by that crazy she-devil bird…" Harry stopped his rambling when he saw another person coming down the stairs towards him. He didn't recognize her at first, but as he got closer he was able to make out the Ravenclaw robes and the girls face. It was Cho, the girl he had helped last year. She was smiling and seemed a lot happier now than she had been at the end of last year. It appeared like what he had done to her memories worked.

"Hey Cho, how are you?" Harry rarely talked to anyone outside of his house, but it couldn't hurt to at least be friendly to the girl.

"Hi Harry, I'm really good actually. I just sent a letter to my parents telling them how excited I am to see them over the break. How have you been?"

"I've been good, busy year though I've been studying a lot. I'm about to send off a letter to a friend I met over the summer. It was good talking to you, have a great break in case I don't talk to you before then."

"Thanks Harry, oh and one more thing before I go." She closed the little distance between them on the staircase and kissed him on the lips. Harry wrapped his arms around the girl's waist and pulled her close making it so there was almost no space between the two. The kiss lasted only for a minute, but Harry didn't mind and judging from the smile Cho had on when she pulled back she wasn't disappointed.

"Normally I don't throw myself at people Potter, but well you really helped me last year and you're certainly starting to develop in all the right ways." Harry didn't get to say anything else as she quickly made her way down the staircase. Harry just shook his head at least the girls who randomly snogged him were all attractive ones.

He reached the top of the owlery and cautiously opened the door. It didn't take long to find Hedwig as she was one of the only snow owls in there. He was afraid that he might have woken her up from a nap, but was grateful to see the owl was wide awake and looking at him.

"Hedwig I have a letter I would like you to deliver. It needs to go to France though, are you up for it?" Harry knew he had said the wrong thing when the bird puffed up and ruffled its feathers in indignation.

"I mean I know you can do it, I just wanted to make sure you wanted to do it. I have owl treats for you also." Harry was trying his best not to get attacked by his owl. The bird seemed to eye him up at first then it flew off its perch and landed on his arm. It started to nibble at the owl treats Harry had put in his hand. Unfortunately for him though Hedwig was digging her claws into his arm. He swore the bird was smirking as he grimaced in pain. Once the treats were all gone Hedwig held out her leg for the letter to be attached.

Harry went to attach the letter to her leg when she moved it just out of reach and pecked him.

"Oy, what was that for Hedwig?" Harry tried to attach the letter to the bird's leg again, this time she moved her leg down out of his reach and pecked him again.

"Really we're going to play this game now? I gave you treats can't you just take the stupid letter?" He was once again forced to beg his bird. Somehow Harry didn't think this was how owls were supposed to behave. After a couple of minutes of being pecked and trying to attach the letter Harry let out a sigh and resigned himself to just using the house elf. He shooed Hedwig off his arm and received another peck to the skull for that one. Before any more retaliation could be done though he ran out of the owlery and shut the door. Once outside he called for Twink and asked the elf to deliver the letter to Fleur. He couldn't wait for her next letter. He cast another tempus and saw he only had half an hour before he was supposed to meet Draco so he started on his walk to the entrance.

The last couple of weeks before break passed quickly and soon almost everyone was riding the Express back to King's Station to enjoy the holidays. Harry expected his break to be rather quiet, mostly spent studying or practicing magic with Sirius. He had already given the girl's their presents during the last Hogsmeade trip. He was having difficulty picking things out, so he had told them to each go to the clothing store and pick out something they wanted and he would buy it. They had been thrilled and quickly rushed in. Draco just laughed at the situation, while Theo said he wished he had thought of it first.

Harry had surprised himself when he picked up a present for Cho. It was a good quill set, and a little bit of chocolate. He wasn't sure what her favorite candy was but figured most girls liked chocolate. It wasn't anything expensive or major, but it was just a nice gesture. Other than that he had to send out presents for Draco, Theo, Blaise, and Fleur.

Draco had been the easiest to find a present for. Harry had decided that he wanted Draco to learn how to fight like he did; it would help to have some to practice against at school, but in order to do that he would need to be able to shield his mind. So Harry had taken his book on Occlumency and put notes on the pages that would help Draco along in learning it. It seemed simple, but passing knowledge down was something valued highly in the pureblood world.

For Theo he had gotten a box of chocolate frogs and a simple silver dagger that the boy had pointed out while their group was exploring the town. Harry didn't know if the boy collected them or knew how to use them, but figured either way it would be something he would enjoy.

Blaise was getting licorice wands and a set of summer robes he had seen and made a comment about looking better than Malfoy in. To which the blonde had replied there weren't any robes in the world that could have that effect. Harry snickered to himself as he thought about how the two were always competing to look the best.

Thanks to Fleur's letter he had an easy time in picking out her present. He had gotten her the candies she had mentioned as well as a simple charm bracelet. It was really just a simple silver chain with emeralds woven between the links. He had bought one charm for her to start the bracelet. The charm was of a black fox to represent his animal form. She wouldn't know that, but that was part of the fun because she would be curious about his choice.

He hoped it would prevent any retaliation from his letter he had sent her. Once the effect had worn off she had written back to him and told him in many explicit words what she thought of his practical joke. Harry couldn't help but smirk knowing he had won this time, but would most likely suffer for it in the future.

The ride to the station went fast, most of the time their group slept with the occasional chess or exploding snap game thrown in. When they got to the platform Harry was surprised to see Sirius standing by Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.

It surprised him to see Sirius out in the open even though he was free now. The only times Harry knew his Godfather went out was when he would go out to some wizarding clubs or bars looking for a witch. It made him happy though and a little more normal to have someone at the train station to pick him up. Harry and Draco said good bye to their other friends as they all split up to go to their own parents.

Draco had already told them his family was having a New Year's Ball and so they would all see each other towards the end of the break.

As they got closer Harry ran up and hugged his Godfather.

"Thanks for the help with Fleur Sirius, it worked perfectly. Hello Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I hope you've both been well." Harry knew Sirius wasn't big on the formal greetings, but he didn't want to show the Malfoys any disrespect.

As Draco walked up and hugged his mother Mr. Malfoy returned the greeting to Harry, "Thank you Harry, we've been very good and I hope you and Draco have been staying out of trouble and keeping up with your studies." He looked at Draco who smiled proudly at his father before responding.

"I'm almost top of the year in potions, the only one who is ahead of me is Harry, but he's top of the year in everything because of the insane amount of studying he does. Half the time we don't even see him. The rest of my classes I'm in the top ten students as well."

The Malfoys praised their son for his hard work and good grades, and Sirius ruffled Harry's hair to show him he was proud of him.

"Well then I think we'll be off, Harry and I have a busy couple of weeks. We look forward to seeing you on New Year's though."

Sirius and Lucius shook hands and Harry waved goodbye to Draco as Sirius grabbed him to side along apparate.

When his world stopped spinning he found himself right outside of Grimmauld Place. Sirius had explained to him that he couldn't ever apparate directly in because of the wards on the ancient ancestral home.

Harry had only been in the house for about a minute when Sirius turned to him.

"Hey Pup, go grab some food from the kitchen then meet me in our usual practicing spot. I wasn't kidding when I told Lucius that we were going to be busy. We're picking up where we left off with the Unforgivables this afternoon."

Harry was excited, but nervous at the same time. He didn't want to lose himself to the feel of the dark magic again, and the Unforgivables were some of the hardest dark arts spells to cast. Harry did as he was told and grabbed two sandwiches from the house elf in the kitchen. He finished them quickly and then met up with Sirius.

"We're going to start with the killing curse Harry. This is by far one of the hardest spells to cast. Can you tell me why?"

Harry thought about the question and what he knew. He honestly wasn't so sure why the spell was thought to be so hard to cast, it needed anger like any other dark arts spell, but other than that it was simple. No complicated wand movements or ridiculously long phrases were used for it.

"I don't know Sirius. I can't think of anything that I've learned that would make this harder than any other dark arts spell."

"That's okay; we haven't really covered what makes the Unforgivables so well…unforgivable. So you know that you've been practicing them on animals. For the most part the anger you have been using to cast them with is powerful enough, but I'm going to tell you now it may not be enough for you to use the spell on a human. Do you know why?" He paused to see if Harry had any ideas, but the boy just shook his head. "Hate is the key. Anger isn't enough; you will need to use actual hate to get the proper effects of the spells. Sure you may be able to get them to work with anger. I've seen many novice level death eaters do it during the last war. But to achieve the full effects and the full feeling of the spell it needs to be powered with hate. That is why these curses are so unforgivable because of the intent behind them."

Harry sat and thought about what he had just been told. So it wasn't that the spell itself was Unforgivable, but more that the intent and the hate behind the spells was. That made more sense in his mind, and he knew that the anger he had in him was actual hate. He knew he had the ability to hate, and he was going to make sure he was able to get the spells to work.

"Alright I think I understand better now about why some people have trouble with these spells. Let's start now."

For the rest of the day Harry worked at getting the killing curse to do what it was meant to do. He had started on spiders, and to his amazement the spider had lived through his first five casts. He wanted to get frustrated at his lack of success but Sirius was reassuring him that it was normal for something like that to happen when someone was first learning the curse. By the time they had called it quits he had managed to cast the spell successfully on a rat. The progress with the Killing curse was much slower than any other spell he had attempted as of yet.

Before he went to sleep that night Harry cleared his mind and did a check on his mind shields, which was something Professor Snape had showed him in their last meeting before the break. After each vicious assault a piece of his shields would become damaged, and that's why Harry would have such a severe migraine. If he took the time to locate that spot and fix it then some of the pain would lessen so he wouldn't collapse and wind up in the hospital wing again.

It was about noon when Harry woke up the next morning, he was sleeping in a guest room that Sirius had set up for him on the first floor. After taking a shower and getting dressed in some of his new robes he had gotten over the summer he made his way out to the living room where Sirius was already sitting down listening to the radio.

"Morning Harry, before we get to work today I have something I need to talk to you about. I've been thinking and I know you have places of your own to stay at, but what if you lived here with me until you finished Hogwarts. I mean you don't have to, but I don't know I like having the company and it just makes it easier…" Harry came up and hugged his Godfather before the man could finish.

Harry knew what it was like to feel accepted because of his friends at school, but for his Godfather to offer him his home as a place to stay, it made him feel as if he had a real family.

"Yes, I'd like that very much Sirius." Harry couldn't stop smiling and his Godfather had a matching grin.

"Well in that case follow me I want to show you your new room! It's on the second floor."

Harry followed Sirius who was practically running to the staircase. He had never been upstairs before so he was genuinely curious to see what was up there. It didn't take long to get to the second floor it had a long hallway with only three doors in it and Harry was really wondering at the size of the rooms. They stopped outside the first door on the left and Sirius turned towards Harry expectantly. He was practically bouncing on his feet as he gestured for Harry to go in.

Harry went to turn the door handle and a sense of doom filled him as he the saw the predatory smirk on his godfather's face. Sure enough when he tried to remove his hand from the door he found his fingers were stuck to the handle. But it didn't end there either; when he pulled his fingers began to stretch. It was like they were made of rubber and they would just stretch and then hang there.

Harry was about to say something to Sirius, and then he decided to just ignore it. Internally he smiled as Sirius's smirk became less prominent. Harry was amazed by the room; it was huge about the size of the common room back at Hogwarts.

It had the typical four poster bed in the middle of it with a large window off to the side and surprisingly a balcony of some sort. It appeared to be over-looking a garden of some sort. Harry sometimes was truly amazed at what magic could do. The room was pretty normal other than that. It had a couple of wardrobes for clothes and a large corner desk for him to do his work at. It also had a medium sized bookshelf which he was grateful for. The bathroom attached to the room was quite large as well.

By this time Harry had walked a fair amount and his fingers were stretched all over the room. Sirius hadn't said anything to him yet, and Harry knew he was waiting for some type of reaction.

"The room is great Sirius! Can we go downstairs and get some lunch now? I'm starving."

"GAH! You're supposed to freak out about being stuck to the door. You're no fun." Sirius pulled out his wand and cast a spell which caused Harry's fingers to go back to normal and he could pull his hand from the door.

Harry just smirked at him. "No I just knew you were waiting for a reaction, if I'm going to be living with you I can see I'm going to have to start checking my food and well everything."

"We'll make a master prankster out of you yet! That's lesson one, you should always be on the lookout."

The rest of the days until Christmas were spent mostly the same. Harry would wake up and train for a good part of the day with Sirius; he still had only managed to cast the killing curse successfully on a sheep. After that, he would usually work on his mind shields or wandless magic.

His skills with wandless magic were really starting to develop and he could perform most if not all of the standard school spells. He could also perform some basic hexes and jinxes. He had yet to attempt any of the dark arts wandlessly and wasn't going to try them until the summer. At night he would occasionally transform into his animagus form and wander around, just to make sure he wasn't slacking in his ability to transform.

On the morning of Christmas Harry woke up to a very excited banging on his door. He tried to ignore the noise by pulling his pillow over his head, but it just seemed to be getting louder. After a minute it stopped, and Harry hid a click as his door was unlocked.

"Now Harry, we can do this one of two ways. Either you get up and go downstairs so we can open presents, or I make you get up. Personally I'm hoping on the latter." Thinking quick Harry pulled his wand from his sleeve and subtly cast a reversing spell on his covers. Now anything that Sirius tried to throw at him would be repelled. He couldn't hold back his smirk as he heard his Godfather say the water burst spell.

The real shock came when he found himself being splashed in ice cold water though. Sputtering and flailing around he rolled out of the bed and fell to the floor all tangled in his sheets. When he looked up he saw his godfather with a bucket of water and a broad smile.

"It was a nice try Harry, but your father tried that same trick on me with a reversing spell. So now I just use the muggle way and pour a bucket of water on you. Up and at em now though, cast a drying charm and come on. There are presents downstairs and we're already behind on our schedule for Christmas fun." Harry got up and cast the drying spell while he followed his overly cheery godfather down the stairs to the living room where there was a small tree, with two distinctive piles of presents.

Harry's was larger than Sirius's but his godfather certainly wasn't lacking in presents and Harry was curious as to who had sent the man stuff. When he had asked the only response he got was that his godfather had many adoring lady fans.

The two opened their presents in relative peace, saving the present they got for each other last. Harry had received lots of sweets from his friends, as well as some ancient rune books on warding. Perhaps the most interesting gift he had received so far though came from Dumbledore. The man had sent him a package with a note saying the object inside once belonged to his father. When he opened it, a cloak fell out, but it was no normal cloak. Sirius had recognized it almost instantly as the same one his father and their group had used back in their school days. It was an invisibility cloak and very valuable. Harry was curious as to why Dumbledore had something that belonged to his father, but decided to not sour the holiday mood with questions like that. From Draco he had received a mirror which had confused him at first, but upon reading the note it explained the mirrors acted as a two way communication. Draco had kept the second one from the set so they could communicate more easily than using owls.

Fleur's gift had two parts to it. One was supposed to be a joke and it was a guide to how to train an owl. The other part that went with it was a necklace with a single feather on it. Harry couldn't tell what the feather was from as it was unlike any he had ever seen or read about. He put it on and noticed that it had a calming effect on him. It was simple, but at the same time he enjoyed the gift immensely.

When it got down to just the gifts he and Sirius had gotten for each other he insisted Sirius open his first. Sirius not being won to argue immediately dove in to the package. Sirius's eyes lit up as he saw what was inside. Harry hadn't really been sure what to get his godfather, but he knew he was a big fan of firewhiskey. He had gone to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and asked if they sold it. Madam Rosmerta had told him they did, but students weren't normally allowed to purchase it until seventh year. Harry explained to her that he was just looking to get it for a gift for his godfather Sirius. Apparently Sirius had made his fair share of flirty comments to Rosmerta because she immediately changed her mind and asked how much he would need. Harry had bought 50 bottles of firewhiskey and had them shrunk down and stored in a box.

"PUP this is great! There's enough firewhiskey in here to last me almost to next year. Now it's your turn. Mind you this is a present from me and Lucius too. We worked together on it so I hope you'll enjoy it."

Harry picked up the package which appeared to be thin, and Harry wasn't really sure what was going to be inside. When he opened it there was some sort of certificate, but as he read on his eyes went wide.

"Sirius is this for real?!" He could barely contain his excitement.

"Yes it is, you'll be competing in the international dueling competition for your age bracket. It took a lot of work to get you entered, but we did it. Oh and you want to know the best part of it?" Harry just nodded his head as he looked at the invitation in his hand. "The competition is in France this year." Sirius paused after he said that to let it sink in. It only took a second for the meaning behind his words to hit Harry.

"WAIT if it's in France, does that mean I can see Fleur this summer?!" Harry was practically bouncing up and down and couldn't wait to tell her that it was a definite that he would be visiting France again this summer.

"Well I mean I don't know Harry you're going to have a busy schedule out there with the competition and all…do you think you can make time to see her?" Sirius was smiling letting Harry know he wasn't being serious.

"YES! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Harry quickly hugged his godfather and then called for Twink. He had the little creature fetch him some writing supplies and then he began writing a letter to Fleur explaining how he would be able to see her this summer.

Sirius sat and watched his godson closely. He was happy that it seemed like Harry had found a good girl, or at least someone who would make a good friend for him. Yet he couldn't help but wonder if the girl would stick around once she found out whose side Harry was on. Even though the war might not affect France directly there was still the chance that she would be disgusted by his use of the dark arts. But then again, he knew very little of the girl and perhaps she wasn't as light or close minded about different branches of magic. For now though he would let his godson have his fun and make sure he wasn't going to get hurt.

The rest of the day the two spent discussing their trip to France and what the competition would actually be like. Sirius had told him all he knew, but had also suggested he asked Professor Flitwick as the man was a dueling champion at one point. Harry was amazed by that and could not picture the kind charms teacher as a master dueler. Before Harry went to sleep that night Twink came back with a letter from Fleur letting him know just how excited she was that he would be coming back.

New Year's rolled around quick and most of the day was spent training, and then once they had finished their training Sirius and Harry got ready to leave for the Malfoy's Manor.

For the most part the party was the same as Draco's birthday had been. At one point the adults Harry knew to be involved with the Dark Lord all excused themselves to a side room to discuss issues. What surprised Harry was that this time there seemed to be more. Well that meant the recruiting was going well at least.

The night was passed mostly with him and his friends dancing or joking around. Harry saw Cho and she had come up to him and thanked him for his gift to her. Harry introduced Cho to his group of friends, and everyone at least greeted her friendly. They had no reason to dislike her, and if she was here it meant that one or both of her parents had some important job in the ministry. Harry caught Tracey smirking out of the corner of his eyes. He figured she probably thought Cho was the other girl he had mentioned meeting. He wasn't going to correct her unless she out right asked him though.

Cho had hung out with their group for a little bit, but had excused herself when the group had started to make fun of Longbottom and his friends. Harry suspected she had a soft spot for the boy. As the enlarged clock that was hanging in the middle of the room showed only 1 minute to New Year's all the couples started to find each other so they could have their kiss. Harry noticed that Pansy seemed to inch closer to Draco until she was right next to his face. He found it hilarious until he turned his head and found himself in a similar situation with Tracey only inches from his face.

"Did you really think I was going to let you get off without giving me my New Year's kiss Potter?" Harry just smiled and shook his head. As the clock hit midnight a loud bang was heard and confetti rained out of the ceiling. Harry leaned in and gave Tracey a quick kiss. Then he pulled back and saw that Pansy had indeed kissed Draco. Blaise and Daphne were still snogging each other. Even Crabbe and Goyle had taken turns kissing Millicent. Harry at first felt bad for Theo because he was the only one who didn't have someone to kiss at midnight, but then he noticed a blushing Padma Patil walking away. That plus the smile on Theo's face told Harry all he needed to know. It was odd since he had never seen the two together, but it made sense when he thought about it. Theo's family owned a book shop and Padma was a Ravenclaw, so she had probably met him at some time or another there.

The last few days of the holiday went pretty fast and soon enough Harry found himself back at Hogwarts sitting in Charms. He could barely focus on what his Professor was saying as his thoughts kept wandering to an image of Flitwick dueling. He was still in a state of disbelief that the man was really a champion, but he was going to ask today. Any knowledge he had of tournaments and their rules would be helpful.

When the bell chimed signaling the end of class everyone packed up their stuff and filed out. Harry waved off his friends when they looked like they were going to wait for him. They still looked unsure, but he just mouthed later at them letting them know he would explain at dinner or in the common room.

Once everyone had left and it was just Harry and Flitwick in the room he cleared his throat to get the attention of the short man who had been lost in a paper.

"Oh my Mr. Potter I'm sorry I didn't know you were still here. What can I do for you? By the way I still think you should have been a Raven, your intelligence and thirst for knowledge is like none I have seen before."

Harry took that as great praise considering Flitwick was the head of Ravenclaw. "Thank you Professor, but I think my thirst to achieve and be great was just a little too large for the hat to feel comfortable putting me in Ravenclaw. The reason I am here though is my godfather had mentioned you were a dueling champion. He and Draco's father took the liberty of enrolling me in the international dueling tournament this summer in France, and I was hoping you would be able to tell me a bit what it is like.

If possible the normally jovial professor seemed even more excited and happy. "Yes Mr. Potter it is true I am a former dueling champion. This is so exciting to see one of Hogwarts own competing. I still try and keep up with the tournament each year as it is very exciting to see what countries are producing the best duelists. Now I competed when after my Hogwarts days so the rules for my competition were a little bit different. We were allowed to cause lasting damage to win so long as we didn't use lethal means. For your age group, meaning 13 through 16, you are not allowed to cause any lasting damage. In order to win you must incapacitate your opponent. Notice I did not say disarm the reason for this is, as you did to Mr. Longbottom, people may retrieve their wands and still be a threat. As far as spells go, it really depends what country you're in as each has their own classification system. France is slightly less strict about what constitutes dark and illegal spells so you'll be able to use a little bit broader selection of spells. However if the tournament were in Bulgaria, you'd be allowed to use almost anything as there is very little restriction on spells there. This is very exciting and a great opportunity for you Mr. Potter. I suggest getting to know your competitors, even though they are your opponent during the match it doesn't mean you can't be friends outside of it. That's really all I can tell you about it, perhaps you and I could have a mock duel right now? I've always had a sense that you were holding back in classes and I'd like to see just how good you are."

Harry was a tad bit nervous about facing his professor knowing the man had years of dueling experience on him, but he couldn't resist the challenge.

"Certainly sir, I'll never pass over the chance to test myself and learn from someone who has experience."

"Splendid! Just a moment while I clear the classroom and give us an area to work with." With a couple waves of his wand the desks were all moved to the side and there was a decent size area for the two to duel in.

Unlike Longbottom Harry had nothing against the man in front of him so he respectfully gave a deep bow just as the professor did for him. Then he smiled as he quickly began casting.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Secar! Aquamenti!" Harry had no hopes of ending the duel that quickly and so he was already moving to the side to step out of the path of an incoming purple spell he didn't recognize. Flitwick conjured a shield that absorbed the two stunners, but crashed under the cutting spell. He was caught slightly by the spell as he moved out of the way of the incoming water. He fired off a disarming charm along with a silencing charm. Harry had managed to dodge the disarming spell, but got caught by the silencing hex. Flitwick thought he had him now because silent casting wasn't taught until 6th year usually. He cast a stupefy and tripping jinx to try and end the duel, but was caught by surprise when he nearly got hit by a disarming charm. He wasn't so lucky to avoid the flock of birds that had been sent his way though. He banished the birds just in time to side step another stunner. What he had missed when the birds blocked his eye sight was the silent glacius that Harry had cast and turned the water on the floor to ice. The professor slipped and fell on his back but managed to hold his wand.

Flitwick rolled to the side to avoid any incoming spells, and then he gracefully popped back up to his feet. "Well done Harry, I see I'm going to have to step it up a little bit if I'm going to beat you. I'm not as young as I once was, but let's put my experience against your youth. No holding back now."

Harry smirked he wished he could show his professor what he was truly capable of. He still hadn't undone the silencing charm on himself as it made it easier for him to cast. He started casting again, only to stare in shock as his spells bounced off a shield Flitwick had conjured. One came soaring back at him causing him to dodge. By the time he had looked back to his opponent there were three more spells coming his way.

"Protego! Lumos Maxima!" Harry took advantage of the momentary blindness of his professor to cast the disillusionment charm. He thought he had his professor beat until he did something Harry was not expecting.

"Homenum Revelio" Flitwick shouted out and Harry was shocked as he looked down and a blue glow outlined him. When he looked back up his world was engulfed in a red light and then blackness.

When he came to he was staring up at the smiling face of Professor Flitwick.

"Well done Harry that was a clever move on your part, but I have seen something very similar to it from an opponent I faced while I was dueling. With skills like that combined with your age I think you'll go very far in the tournament, possibly even win it."

"Why would my age be a factor sir? Also what was that spell you used to find where I was?"

"Well simply because you are younger Harry and most of the older duelists will think themselves above you. That spell is a revealing spell. It is used to find hidden people or creatures in a contained area. The incantation for it is Homenum Revelio. Very useful when your opponent is trying to stay undetected. Now that took far longer than I thought it would, you best be off to dinner now. Also take 15 points for Slytherin for exceptional skills."

"Thank you very much Professor, but there is one more thing. Do you think you could keep this between us for now? I'd prefer to not have to explain to everyone where or why I learned to duel so well. If I win this tournament this summer I'm sure most people will know by next year anyway. I just prefer my privacy."

"Certainly, certainly Harry. I can understand that you would not want others intruding or harassing you while you are studying."

"Thanks again Professor. Have a good night." Harry gathered up his materials and walked out of the room intent on getting to dinner and telling his friends at least a little about what had happened. He might leave out the duel.

**Hogwarts' Staff Room**

"Now that we've covered the basics on how the student performance is going are there any students that are stand outish?" Dumbledore asked to his staff. He always wanted to know about students that showed above average skills to make sure he could steer them down the right path.

"Well as normal Mr. Longbottom has been excelling in all of his classes, as is Ms. Granger. They both work very hard and are among some of the best in their year." McGonagall started off, it seemed that almost all the professors agreed. Even Snape grudgingly admitted Longbottom was average at Potions.

Professor Flitwick spoke up next "Miss Chang has been doing much better this year than last. Although after learning of her situation last year I can see why that might be. Although I tried to talk to her about it this year and she acted as if she didn't know what had happened. She had said a fellow student helped her with whatever had been wrong last year."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a little more as he leaned forward, "Really? She seems to have no recollection of the events and claimed a student had helped her? That would be an incredible use of powerful mind magic. Perhaps I will talk to Miss Chang sometime soon to see if I can find out just who helped her. Are there any others who have done exceptionally well?"

Professor Sprout mentioned that one 6th year boy, Cedric Diggory, was almost top of his year and had been even teaching some of the younger students who were struggling.

"Severus do you have any students you would like to recognize?"

"All of my students excel Albus," He smirked as he noticed Minevra twitch like she wanted to say something "However Mr. Malfoy is almost top of Potions and Transfiguration this year. Mr. Potter goes without saying I believe as he is top in everything. "

There was a murmur of agreement as it was true that Harry was top in every class and top for the year. He had some of the highest marks Albus had seen since another bright young boy had come through Hogwarts more than 50 years ago. As more and more similarities showed up between the young Tom Riddle and Harry Potter Dumbledore became more and more worried.

"Yes Mr. Potter is quite the enigma. He was raised in the muggle world yet he is one of the best and brightest students I have ever seen. This is why Voldemort is so wrong to try and get rid of muggleborns. Just because they come from a different world does not mean they can't adapt."

Albus dismissed his staff, but he stayed seated and began going over a list in his head of how Harry was like Tom Riddle. They were both raised in a muggle orphanage, the same orphanage in fact. Both were exceptionally bright and the top of their classes. Both were Slytherins and had a close group of friends that followed them. Both of them had been parselmouths and accessed the chamber. Dumbledore knew Tom had killed while at school, and he strongly suspected that Gilderoy's disappearance was due to Mr. Potter. Yes it was frightening indeed how close the two were. He would just have to watch the boy closer than he had in the past to make sure he would stay on the right path.

After all someone with so much power and intelligence would make a great ally for Neville in the war that was to come. That was another problem all on its own though. Dumbledore knew that someday Voldemort would return and another war would be started. That is why he had been training Neville and teaching him how to be a leader. In the darkest times people would look to their savior. Next year some of Neville's closest friends would be joining him in his training.

He sighed as he stood up. He only hoped that maybe Voldemort's return could be delayed until after Neville had finished school. Something told him they wouldn't be awarded that courtesy though.

The first Saturday in March found Harry and his friends sitting in the stands watching the quidditch match between the Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Slytherin had easily beaten Hufflepuff and Gryffindor thanks to the new brooms they had received that year. This game looked to be another easy win for Slytherin as the chasers easily out flew the Ravenclaw players. The score was 150-0 Slytherin when suddenly both Seekers started after a little golden blur in the sky. The beaters on both teams were doing their best to send bludgers at the opposing seeker. It looked like Cho was going to catch the snitch when a well-placed bludgers crashed right into the back of her broom.

There was a moment where time seemed to slow down as everyone watched the girl get thrown from her broom and start to fall. Dumbledore reacted fast casting a spell to slow her descent, but to anyone who was watching closely they might have seen the second spell connect with the girl from a different spot in the stands.

Harry didn't know why he had done it, but he wasn't about to let the girl fall to her death. He had reacted mostly on instinct and wandlessly had cast the spell Snape had taught him. It wasn't nearly as strong as when he used his wand, but combined with Dumbledore's spell it stopped the girl almost completely in the air. He was glad that no one seemed to notice he had cast a spell.

The Slytherin seeker must have kept going even after Cho had fallen because he was floating in the middle of the field with his hand raised and the snitch in his palm. Now that there was no threat of immediate death Slytherin let out a loud roar of applause as they had won the Quidditch cup again. Harry could have sworn he saw some gold exchange hands between Professor Snape and McGonagall.

The victory meant there was going to be a huge party in the common room that night. Which meant Harry would probably be avoiding it. It's not that he didn't like parties, but he wasn't fond of how out of control some of the students got when they started drinking firewhiskey.

It was sometime around seven and Harry was in the restricted section again. He was looking for more on warding and runes. In the trips he had made so far he had found a lot about rituals to increase power or extend life, but all of them came with such horrible side effects of repercussions that it wasn't even worth it. After another hour of searching and nothing coming up Harry decided that maybe Hogwarts wasn't going to be his key to studying wards. It seemed like all the books had been removed or just never put in.

As he walked out of the library he was trying to decide what to do. He didn't plan on going anywhere near the common room. Yet he wasn't ready to call it a night and go back to his room. Deciding to wander around a bit Harry started walking up the staircase. He hadn't ever really explored too much. He knew the Gryffindor common room was supposed to be somewhere on the seventh floor, but that was really all he knew about that particular area.

As he wandered down the seventh floor corridor he noticed a large portrait of a fat woman in a pink frilly dress.

As he walked by he swore the woman was glaring at him. _Probably the entrance to the common room then he thought._ That was the only reason he could think of a portrait actually glaring at him anyway. It didn't take long before he had reached the end of the hall he had chosen and the only thing that was interesting was a portrait called Barnabus the Barmy. Across from the portrait was a single door. It seemed out of place in the mostly empty hall. Having nothing better to do and letting his curiosity get the better of him he pulled the door open slightly and peeked inside.

It caught him slightly off guard when he saw the headmaster and Longbottom inside. It appeared that the Headmaster was giving the boy classes of some sort. He didn't get much of a look though because the headmaster's eyes snapped up to the door when it opened and Harry didn't want to risk being caught so he closed the door quickly and ran for it. He didn't know if he was being followed or not but he didn't feel like dealing with either of the two at the moment.

Unfortunately for him though as he ran past the portrait of the fat woman a voice he never enjoyed hearing stopped him.

"Potter? What are you doing up here?" Granger's voice echoed throughout the hall way and he should of kept going, but he couldn't help himself from stopping and responding.

"Well not that it's any of your business Granger, but I was just out for a walk through the castle. I could ask you why you are up here, but you Gryffindors are so dumb you let everyone know where the entrance to your common room is." As he said the last part Harry looked right at the portrait over Granger's shoulder.

She looked sheepish at first but then responded "Well that maybe true, but you still need a password to get in."

"Really Granger? For one who is so smart you have no common sense. If I really wanted that password all I would have to do is hide out here long enough to hear one of you idiot lions say it. Now if this pointless argument is over I have better things to do than associate with someone like you." Harry turned and kept walking thinking he might have enjoyed being surrounded by a bunch of drunken people more than running into Granger. There was only about an hour until curfew so he decided he would call it a night and head back to his room.


	19. Chapter 19

There was two weeks left of school when Harry got a message from the Headmaster requesting to see him in his office after dinner. A feeling of dread filled his stomach as he finished the food on his plate and excused himself from his friends. He dragged out the walk to the office as long as possible hoping maybe Dumbledore had something else that would come up. After about 15 minutes he finally reached the large stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the office. Deciding there was no use postponing any longer Harry gave the password that had been given to him in the message he received and did his best to keep the annoyance and slight fear of the phoenix out of his facial expression. He was about to knock on the door when the Headmaster's voice came from the other side.

"Come in Harry."

Harry just snorted at the cheap trick probably meant to amaze the younger years, and students who didn't take runes. All it would take for Dumbledore to know who was there was a simple detection ward, and some clever use of runes to allow him to identify the person. He pushed the door open and a sense of relief came over him as he saw Professor Snape was also present.

"Good evening Headmaster, Professor." Harry greeted them both formally hoping that with the greeting out of the way they could get right down to business. He didn't want to spend any more time than necessary around the phoenix.

"Hello Harry, as I have seen in our past meetings you are not one for idle chit chat, or an old man's musings so I will go right to our topic at hand. I have been talking to Miss Chang about a rather unusual occurrence in her life. We are all aware of what happened to her last year, but it seems she can't remember it at all. While this is sometimes normal for victims for a few months after, when I did a slight mental scan of her using a branch of magic called legilemency it showed that her memories of the events were simply locked away. Someone had repressed them using some very advanced mind magic. My first thought had been that perhaps her parents had a healer do it over the summer, but imagine my surprise when she confessed to me that it had been you to help her."

At this point Harry was panicking inside while maintaining his calm outward appearance. Was Dumbledore about to question him on how he learned the mind arts? He couldn't just come out and say oh well the Dark Lord taught me so I would be able to hide my extra lessons and dark arts use.

"I had initially wondered where you had learned such an obscure form of magic, but then I remembered Severus is a master occulems, and when I asked him about it he told me he had been teaching you to help you keep your focus while you study as well as maintain control over your emotions. However, I find myself curious as to how exactly you did what you did for Miss Chang. I hope that you will appease my curiosity about this.

Harry mentally sighed in relief. "I ran into Cho in the hallway after Gilderoy disappeared, and she just looked so depressed. I had read about legilems being able to suppress memories but had never actually done it before. I told her I might be able to help her if she was willing to trust me. She agreed and I stunned her so she wouldn't know I was using the mind arts on her. Then I entered her mind, and well I just kind of willed my magic to do what I wanted. It brought forward the memories I was looking for and then I just wished them locked up and it happened. I wasn't too sure what I had done had actually worked until I woke her up and she couldn't remember any of it. All she knew was that I had helped her get over a problem she had been having." He had already been caught at this point, so he saw no reason to lie about what he had done and draw more attention to his growing list of talents. The more he stood out the closer he would be watched, and he wasn't looking forward to that at all.

Dumbledore looked at him for what seemed like ages, and Harry carefully kept his shields up and maintained to make sure the man didn't try anything funny. The phoenix, Fawkes, ruffled its feathers looking like it had just woke up and let out a little trill. The noise made Harry want to cringe, and it took every ounce of control he had not to let his discomfort show. Finally Dumbledore spoke.

"Severus you are good to leave us now. I would just like to tell Mr. Potter a story before I send him on his way to the common room." Snape looked like he was about to protest, but then stopped himself and bid the two a good evening and left. "Now Harry, I would like you to take a seat and humor me by allowing me to tell you of a story of another unique individual like yourself." Harry had a feeling he knew Dumbledore was referring to, but wisely kept his mouth shut. "The boy's name was Tom Riddle. You might be surprised to find out he grew up in the same orphanage you did. At the time I was not Headmaster, so I had been sent to retrieve him. I knew right away that the boy had great potential and looked at him as someone I could teach and have to fill my shoes once I was gone. However because of these expectations I tended to overlook some troubling signs. Every year, the week before summer he would come to me asking to stay at the school. There was apparently more to it than I thought. The children there were very cruel towards Tom because of what he was. He was a Slytherin also, and the Head of Slytherin at the time, Horace Slughorn, noticed his potential as much as I did and also began to teach the boy in private. Soon enough there was no one who could compete with him in any subject, he had a crowd of students that followed him around because of his power and charm. Then he did the unthinkable. He opened the chamber of secrets and used the beast to kill a student. He was clever however, and he knew Hagrid had a beast living in the castle and framed him. Thus, Tom got away with it and was given an award for services to the school. After school he became known as Lord Voldemort. I tell you this now Harry, because as I'm sure you realize there are a great many similarities between you and Tom. I just wish to make sure you are not tempted to join the wrong side."

Harry wanted to call Dumbledore out and ask him who he was to decide what was the right and wrong side but wisely kept the thought to himself. "Thank you sir, I don't think you have anything to worry about though. That monster killed my parents, maybe not directly but he ordered it."

"I know this Harry, but sometimes our choices can be affected by those around us or those who we are close to. As I'm sure you are aware most of your friends have parents who are sympathetic to Voldemort's side. If there is ever a time when you do not feel comfortable in your group of friends or should they threaten you I would hope you go to Professor Snape or me. Now I know we have talked about this in some form earlier this year, but perhaps you would be more open to talking about your godfather now?" Dumbledore's eyes seemed to twinkle even brighter than normal when he said this. He probably thought that Harry hadn't had any contact with Sirius thanks to his interference.

"No thank you sir. I don't wish to talk about my godfather unless you wanted to know about how he offered me a place to stay at his house until I graduate." Harry couldn't resist throwing out that last piece of information just to mess with the old man he hated so much.

"Well that is interesting." Surprise was clearly visible on Dumbledore's face, "By chance did you accept?"

"Of course sir, I've never had a family before and I think Sirius might be my chance at having one. It's getting late sir, would you mind if I were to excuse myself so I could get to the library before curfew."

Dumbledore dismissed him making sure to remind Harry that his office was always open to a student who needed help with anything.

Harry slept very little that night, he couldn't get over the fact that Dumbledore knew he could use the mind arts. Thankfully Snape has covered for him on how he had learned them, but the fact still remained that Dumbledore knew about one of his skills. He would have to be more careful in the future about how he displayed his power. He was up and ready two hours before breakfast and passed the time by going for a walk around the lake. Occasionally a tentacle would break through the surface of the lake causing water and fish to spray into the air. Harry assumed this was the giant squid's feeding time. After walking for about an hour Harry stopped and sat down by the shore to look out over the water.

He sat with his legs tucked up close to his chest and his arms wrapped around them to keep them close and give the impression of another physical presence. He hated to admit it; on occasion though he found himself feeling lonely. Sure he had great friends, Sirius, and Fleur even; however it just wasn't what he needed. Out of all of those people he could only tell everything to one of them, and the man was so much older than him. What he really needed was someone his age he could tell everything to. Initially he had felt fine about keeping all his secrets and telling no one, but if he wanted to remain sane he would need a confident of sorts. Draco had already started learning the mind arts, and Harry knew once he was trained enough he would be able to tell him his secrets. However Harry just couldn't see himself telling Draco everything. As odd as it sounded he would trust Draco in a fight, but the boy was just too well known because of his father's prominent position and allegiance to the dark lord.

Harry wanted to be able to tell Fleur everything. She had very little ties here, and no one would suspect a French veela of being a confident for him. He was initially going to ask Sirius about it, but then decided not to as these were his secrets. He would have to learn how to figure out who to trust sooner or later. He had already planned out what he was going to tell Fleur when he saw her this summer. The only thing that worried him was he wasn't sure if she would support him in his choice of sides. He knew there were fewer restrictions on magic and literature in France thanks to Flitwick, but it was the pureblood ideals he was worried she wouldn't accept.

Half-breeds hadn't been treated very well by either side in the first war, and most had chosen to side with Voldemort on the slight chance he kept his promise of equal rights to them. If she was disgusted by him and his choices he knew he would have to wipe her memories. He couldn't risk ruining the tentative agreement that Sirius had gotten from Mr. Delacour. As the sun rose above the tree line Harry picked himself up off the ground and brushed off his robes before heading back in the direction of the castle. The whole time he never noticed the person who had been watching him from the bushes. He had no warning as the white light collided with his side. The spells effects were almost instant as he felt a cloud start to form in his mind and it became hard to concentrate on what was happening. He slammed his shields against the cloud full force and was temporarily able to clear his mind. He stepped to the side to avoid a cutter and a disarming charm. He could feel the cloud starting to form again in his mind and knew he needed to work fast. He turned to try and identify his opponent, but whoever it was they were using his mental state to their advantage and moving too fast for him to recognize their face.

He was desperately trying to remember the counter for the confundus charm as he realized that was most likely what was causing the fog in his head. It was useless though in his current state. He moved to the side again to avoid two more spells, but wasn't lucky enough to register the tripping jinx which had been shot at his ankles.

The breath was knocked out of him as he collided with the ground. He scrambled frantically to find his wand as he had dropped it when he fell. Harry couldn't believe how bad he had been beaten. He had been caught completely off guard and now he was paying for his lack of attention. He could hear the footsteps getting closer as his attacked closed in. Harry's hand finally found the smooth feeling surface of the basilisk tooth that was his wand handle. Slowly he curled his fingers around it and attempted to edge it out from under himself so he could get a desperation shot at whoever was approaching him. He got his breathing under control and used the rise and fall of his chest to cover the slight movement of his arm to get his wand from underneath him. The confundus seemed to wear off in the second before his attacked reached him. Without wasting any time, he rolled to his left and fired off three spells.

"Secar! Ossus Fragmento! Serpensortia!" The last spell last left his wand as he hopped to his feet and began to charge his opponent. "_Bite him or bind him; I don't care what you do just occupy him!"_

His cutting spell missed, but the satisfying snap he heard and the grunt of pain let him know his second spell had connected. He had been weary of using the spell as it wasn't dark, but generally not approved of unless you were an auror. Forgetting he was a wizard for a second Harry threw his fist into the person's jaw as they were distracted banishing the snake he had created. Pain shot through his hand as it landed solidly with the bone. There was a cracking noise, but he wasn't sure if it was his fingers or the person's jaw. Either way they fell over and he quickly grabbed their wand which had fallen to the ground. He tucked his opponent's wand away and then jabbed the tip of his wand into their neck.

"Who are you? And you may want to answer fast and give me a reason to not do more damage to you. I may accidentally slip with wand and put a nice gash in your neck." Harry was beyond pissed. He had just been relaxing and this asshole had decided to attack him. If this hadn't been Hogwarts the man would have found himself dead by now.

The person slowly reached up and pulled their hood down to reveal the face of Neville Longbottom. He appeared to be fighting back a grimace of pain at the movement of his arm. Noticing and deciding that was probably where he had hit the boy with his bone breaker Harry pinned the arm down and used his knee to apply pressure. The boy let out a cry of pain.

"So what made you think it would be a good idea to attack me Longbottom? Do you really have a death wish? There is no one out here to save you. I could end your miserable existence now and then feed you to the giant squid and no one would ever know."

The boy's skin paled, but he just kept a look of grim determination on his face. "I saw you spying on me the other night and then Hermione told me you were hanging around our common room entrance. I was going to teach you a lesson for messing with Gryffindor."

Harry just shook his head at the foolhardiness of the boy. "How did that end up for you now Longbottom? You had me you know; that confundus charm really caught me off guard. The combination of spells and you're clever placement of them had me down. You should have done something to prevent me from getting back up. Instead you moved in on an opponent you had no control over." Harry put more pressure on the boy's arm to drive home how stupid he had been.

"Now I'm going to walk away and you're going to stay down. If you attempt to get up before I reach the castle gates I will not hesitate to turn around and finish this. Do you understand me?" Once more he pushed down with his knee and Longbottom's eyes started to water up as the boy nodded. "Good now I suggest you think of a clever story about how you broke this arm. We wouldn't want word getting around that you attacked a student for no reason after all right?" Harry smirked and got up. He had expected the boy to try something stupid and had his wand at the ready. He didn't try anything so Harry turned and began his walk back to the castle. Once he got about fifteen steps away he pulled out Longbottom's wand and dropped it on the ground. Putting a smile on his face Harry walked into the castle ready to face anything else the day threw at him.

It was Sunday afternoon and there was only three days left until Harry and his friends would all be leaving Hogwarts for the summer. Harry had once again taken first in his year and had some of the highest grades his teachers had ever seen on exams. Even in Herbology where Longbottom was usually regarded as the best Harry had managed to beat the boy for the number one spot. Draco had finished at fifth in their year. He was second in potions and third in transfiguration. Theo had been second in history and eighth overall for their year. Daphne, Tracey, and Pansy had all done well to, finishing within the top twenty for the year. Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent didn't do terrible but they weren't anywhere near the best students.

Tracey and Harry had just got done congratulating each other in private on their good grades. Ever since New Year's they had been spending more time together. It wasn't just for the fun though. They had just enjoyed each other's company some days and laid down and relaxed together. Sometimes Harry would help her with her spell casting or homework. Harry hoped he wasn't leading his friend on as he still felt nothing for her in the way of wanting a relationship. He wasn't going to bring it up unless it became apparent that she was hoping for it to go that way.

She had never asked him about the other girl he had met, and so he assumed she just thought it was Cho. The two were walking in comfortable silence to the Great Hall to get some dinner. It was a surprisingly pleasant walk with no interruptions from Longbottom and his friends. Ever since the day out by the lake Longbottom had avoided Harry like the plague. He hadn't been called to the Headmaster's office so he assumed the boy had created a good enough story to explain why his arm was broken.

He sat down at the table and greeted his other friends who were already there. Draco turned to him once he had gotten some food on his plate.

"So Harry are you excited for the summer? Father told me what you're going to be doing and I have to say I'm very jealous. You must make sure to keep me up to date on how it is going." Harry nodded his head to let Draco know that would be no problem. Theo and the girls looked at the two quizzically while Crabbe and Goyle continued to eat.

"What are you doing that is so interesting this summer Harry?" Tracey was the one who asked the question that everyone wanted an answer to.

Harry smirked," Oh you know, I'm just going to another country to visit the girl I met last summer." Harry couldn't stop the laugh at the expressions on his friends' faces. "That's what I'm looking forward to, but Draco was probably referring to the International Dueling Tournament that I will be competing in."

"You're competing in the tournament Harry? Congratulations mate I heard it's very hard to get in. Apparently the screening process is long and in depth to make sure they have the absolute best competitors." Theo was the first one to regain his bearing and able to congratulate Harry. That snapped the rest of them out of their stupor and they began to congratulate him as well on his selection.

"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier Harry?" Blaise spoke up from his spot next to Daphne.

"I don't know, I just kind of forgot about it to be honest. I've been so busy making sure I stay at the number one spot. I swear with Longbottom getting lessons from Dumbledore it's getting so hard to stay ahead of him in everything."

"Maybe you don't need to be number one in everything Harry…" Pansy had started to comment but quickly shut up at the look that Harry sent her way.

"I don't want to give that idiot the satisfaction of ever beating me again. Dumbledore gave him the only win he will ever have against me and that's a promise." The topic of conversation shifted back to summer plans and the rest of dinner was spent discussing what everyone would be doing.

Harry arrived in Grimmauld Place with Sirius and he barely touched the ground before he was bounding up the stairs two or three at a time. Sirius just smiled and laughed as he watched his godson go and pack.

The tournament didn't start for two days, but the two were leaving in a few hours to make sure they had time to get settled in and unpack their stuff. Most of Harry's belongings were packed in his luggage from Hogwarts still, but he had to grab Hedwig's cage and his collection of dark arts spell books that he had to leave home for obvious reasons.

Hedwig had finally started to come around it seemed, Harry had actually read some of the book that Fleur had sent him about owl training and it surprisingly worked. The bird had calmed down enough to where she wouldn't attack him anymore. She was still reluctant to stay cooped up all the time, but he had made a couple of trips to the owlery during the last year to make sure she could go out and get exercise.

Once he had finished grabbing the books he wanted and the cage he ran back downstairs and quickly packed them before shrinking his trunk down so it would fit in his pocket.

"Sirius I'm packed we can go now!" Harry called excitedly when he saw his godfather walk out of the kitchen.

"Sure thing Pup, I packed yesterday because I figured you would want to leave right away. We're going to be using the Malfoy villa to stay at again. I have our international port key right here." He pulled out a manila envelope with some papers inside of it. "Just grab hold and we can be on our way." Harry quickly did as he was told and then Sirius said activate and his world started to spin.

When it stopped he landed on his feet gracefully in the foyer of the villa. He walked down the hall where his bedroom had been last time and started to unpack. He didn't want to waste any time. As he was unpacking he had a brilliant idea and called for Twink.

"Twink I need you to deliver this letter to Fleur right away!" The elf looked to be jumping in excitement.

"Certainly kind master! I wills be delivering this right aways to your Missy Fleur." The elf disappeared with a pop and Harry went back to putting his clothes in his wardrobe. It only took about five minutes for Twink to reappear with a little scrap of paper. On it was written only one word, yes. Harry couldn't keep the large smile off his face as he thought about what that meant. He could of unpacked in about twenty minutes if he used magic, but Harry was trying to kill as much time as possible so he did everything by hand and even arranged his books in subject and alphabetical order. All in all it took him about two and a half hours to finish unpacking and sorting. Sirius had stopped by once to tell him he was going out for the evening, and probably wouldn't be back until the next morning. Apparently he had also met a witch last time they had been to France and she had asked if he could stop by again. The villa elves had brought Harry some food and he had thanked them for it because he had completely forgotten to eat lunch and was starving.

At eight thirty the fireplace in the villa came to life and started to turn a bright green. Harry quickly made his way towards it to greet Fleur as she came out. As he took in her appearance he vaguely recognized the subtle veela magic. He pushed it aside and just focused on the girl in front of him. When she looked up and their eyes locked something passed between them and then she was in his arms hugging him. He had expected to be hugged because of how much she had told him she missed him in her letters. What he hadn't expected was her warm, soft lips on his. It didn't take him long to react as he kissed her back. He ran his tongue along her lips asking for permission to enter which she granted him. They stood there kissing passionately for a minute or two before she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Silently Harry was thanking Sirius for making him do at least some physical exercise to keep in shape and build some muscle. She pulled back and moved her lips to his ear. Her breath was hot and made a shiver of excitement go through him as she whispered into it. "Take me to your bedroom Harry; it is much more comfortable oui?"

He wasn't going to argue with a request like that from such a beautiful girl and he turned and started to walk towards the room. She made it hard to walk as she kissed and nibbled on his neck. She was also rubbing small circles on his chest with her hand. Once they had gotten in the bedroom and the door had been shut Harry turned and fell backwards onto the bed so she was straddling his waist. She moved her mouth back to his and began to kiss him more forcefully now that she was in control. Her wand was out and she banished his shirt before he knew what was happening. He was surprised by the hungry look he saw in Fleur's eyes when he looked into them. It was almost primal and there seemed to be a flame dancing in them. He couldn't help but get lost in them as he felt her hand slide down his chest to the button on his pants. She undid his belt and the button so she could slip her hand in. Harry let out a little gasp as she wrapped her fingers delicately around his shaft. Her hand was warm and as she slowly stroked him he became harder and soon it was uncomfortable for him to have his pants on. He reached down and slid his pants off as far as he could just to relieve some of the pressure. Fleur seemed to be spurred on by this though and she soon slid his boxers and pants all the way off leaving him completely naked underneath her.

Harry couldn't believe what was happening to him. He had a beautiful girl on top of him while he was completely naked. Sure he and Tracey and done things like this with each other (hell they had had sex with each other before the end of the year), but with Fleur there was something more than just fun. He could feel she needed this, the contact the feeling of being wanted. It most likely came from her being so isolated by everyone else her age. His train of thought stopped abruptly however when she banished her own top and slid her skirt off leaving her in nothing but a sexy purple lace bra and matching thong. He reached up and wrapped one arm around her pulling her down to him as he massaged one of her breasts with his other hand. He kissed her neck and sucked on the spot right at the nape of the neck where it met with the collarbone. He had discovered this sweet spot while experimenting with Tracey and it always caused a good reaction with her. Fleur was no different and she gasped as her eyes fluttered and flicked upwards quickly from the sudden pleasure shock.

"More Harry, more please I love the feel of your hands on me. " She said this very breathily and Harry gladly obliged as he slid his hand up and undid her bra letting it fall forward. He began to play with one tit while sucking lightly on the other. She was still stroking his dick and he would occasionally let out a little moan when she would stroke it just right. Feeling a little braver after a few minutes of her not stopping Harry let his hand slide from her breast down to her pussy. He could feel the dampness instantly when he placed his hand. She moaned at the new contact and he smiled into her kiss and he rubbed her clit making her moan more. He continued to rub her clit as he slipped a finger inside of her. She gasped and pulled back then let her head fall forward onto his shoulder as he began to push his finger into her slowly at first, but speeding up after every few thrusts. As he pushed faster into her her strokes became faster and faster and after another ten minutes of the forceful stroking he found himself unable to hold back any longer. Fleur realized what was happening and moved her mouth from his lips and took his dick in her mouth instead. That sent Harry over the edge and he watched as Fleur swallowed everything down. He felt amazing as she licked and sucked to clean him up. He helped her finish in an orgasm shortly after that and then the two cleaned up and lay down contentedly next to each other.

For a minute or two they simply laid in silence. The moonlight coming through the window reflected off of Fleur's platinum hair making it appear silver and she had almost a heavenly glow around her. Harry wasn't sure what had brought all of this on, but he couldn't argue with it or ever regret it when he looked at the angel that was lying next to him.

Fleur rolled over onto her side and propped herself up on an elbow. A small smile played across her face only adding to the angel like appearance she had. "So I see you took my advice and got some experience Mr. Potter." She was teasing him and Harry knew it, but he couldn't help but blush slightly at the accusation. Fleur just laughed at his discomfort. "No reason to be embarrassed Harry, Veela are a very sexual race. I don't have to practice to know how to please a man; it's simply in my heritage. However because of this we need someone with experience to make sure we get pleasure as well. Trust me when I say I thoroughly enjoyed this."

"Well I'm glad to be of service to you Miss Delacour. Should you ever need my services again, I'm sure you know how to contact me." Harry winked at her and they both let out a laugh as they positioned themselves into a more comfortable way to lie.

Harry didn't want to ruin the moment they were in, but her knew he had to talk to Fleur about everything. He probably could have kept things hidden from her, but he found he didn't want to.

"Fleur I need to talk to you about some things." Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair nervously. She looked at him with a question clearly showing on her face, but didn't say anything so he continued on. "Last year when we met it wasn't by accident that my godfather and I just happened to be here in France. The whole trip right up to me meeting you and making you my friend was planned out." She inhaled sharply and Harry hurried on with his explanation, "My godfather needed a way to talk to your father. You see I don't know if your father ever told you what they talked about that night we came for dinner, but it wasn't just about suggestions for our ministry. Sirius was convincing your father that should another war start against the Dark Lord that it would be in the best interest of France and its people to not be involved unless directly attacked. He suspected Dumbledore might come to your father and try and persuade him to take a side which would result in innocent French citizens being hurt." Harry paused a moment to let her absorb this information.

Fleur looked confused still as she voiced her question, "I don't understand that seems perfectly logical. Why could you not just schedule a meeting with my father and discuss that issue openly?"

Harry took a deep breath as he knew this next part would probably ruin his friendship. "Sirius convinced your father to remain neutral so that the Dark Lord wouldn't have more opposition. We both support the Dark Lord." Harry braced himself for a slap or a spell that he knew was probably about to come. A few moments went by and nothing came, he brought his eyes up to meet Fleur's and saw a war of emotions on her face. "Fleur?"

"I don't know what to say Harry. This, this isn't at all what I was expecting. I can't believe that such a nice young man like you could really be in support of such a monster. The stories about the dark lord are terrible, the things he did in the last war give people nightmares. I need more information to process this; can you tell me why you support him?"

Harry hadn't expected that. He hated talking about his past, but if he wanted her to be his confident then this would be the first step. He slowly nodded his head yes. "When I was a baby a death eater had killed my parents. Sirius had come to take me to the Dark Lord to raise as his heir, but when he saw the other death eater kill my parents he lost it and killed the man. He wound up in Azkaban. I was put in a muggle orphanage. It was horrible there Fleur." He paused here and she grabbed his hand gently and gave it a squeeze to urge him to continue on. "Because of my accidental magic the woman there thought I was a freak. She made sure all the other children knew it to. No one ever wanted to be friends with the freak child. I was alone for the first 11 years of my life. Throughout those years I was beaten, starved, made to go without washing, and so much more. Then I get my Hogwarts letter and a man comes. He was my defense professor for the year, and he said he saw a great talent in me. He offered to teach me and showed me my true heritage as a Potter. I learned so much from him that whole year. Then at the end of the year he was killed. It turned out the Dark Lord had been possessing the man the whole time. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that the man who had ordered my family killed was the only person who had ever shown any real interest in me. It felt so nice to have someone who cared. Then a few years later I meet Sirius and he asks me to join the Dark Lord's side with him and then he takes me into his home and is letting me live with him. For the first time in ever I have an actual family Fleur, and that is all because of the dark." Harry was practically pleading for her to understand by the end of his summary.

"Harry I, I just don't know. I don't think I could ever support a monster that ruined so many families and killed so many people." Harry's heart fell as he was sure he was going to have to obliviate her. "However, after hearing what you had to tell me I can't fault you on your support of him. I wish for us to remain friends and I hope we can find a way to work past this. Besides it's not like there is a second war right around the corner right? The dark lord is dead or hiding somewhere far away." The look on Harry's face must have given it away though. "Oh my, he's not as far gone as everyone thinks is he?" Harry shook his head no. "How soon do you think he'll be returning then?"

Harry hesitated here as he wasn't sure he should share this. "I don't know if I can say, but if a war were to break out before two years' time I wouldn't be surprised." Fleur looked shocked but nodded in understanding. "Fleur look I know this is probably weird for you because of how the Dark Lord treats people and the way he did things, but I hope that maybe someday you could at least be convinced to be sympathetic to his cause. I just needed to let you know where I really stood before our friendship went on and reached a point where this news could have destroyed it. I really care about you Fleur, and your one of the only people I've ever told about the orphanage or being sided with the Dark Lord. I trust you with this information and hope that you will keep it to yourself. Also you should know that I do practice the dark arts as well."

"I figured as much since you said your godfather was a death eater." She paused and looked to be debating with herself over something. Her face scrunched up in thought before she spoke again," Are the dark arts really that much different than normal magic? Obviously they have nastier effects, but isn't the casting essentially the same?"

Harry was surprised by her general curiosity in the dark arts. "Well yes, and no. Dark arts are significantly harder to cast because they are an emotion based magic. You have to feel anger or hate to cast them. It can't be righteous anger either. They can be cast with less emotion, but the effects will not be what you desire. They create a euphoric sensation when you cast them and it's addicting. I didn't start them until last summer when my mind shields had developed enough to keep me from losing my mind. These are the reasons they are considered dark arts essentially. Other than that they are exactly the same as any normal house hold spell or defensive spells."

Fleur seemed to be having another internal debate as he watched her. "Could you show me?" Harry was caught completely off guard by her request and she mistook the look on his face for one meaning no. She quickly tried to pull her comment back when Harry stopped her.

"Yes I can show you. Come on you can borrow one of my robes so you don't have to waste time getting dressed again." He summoned two of his robes from his closet and handed her the one made from acromantula silk. She smiled at the softness of the material and wrapped it around her body. Once they both had a robe on they walked out and Harry led her to the training room he and Sirius used.

"Now as I said they are very addicting, and need to be handled cautiously. Please give me a minute while I clear my mind and pick a memory to use to power my spells." Fleur sat quietly and watched as Harry did a quick check of his shields and then brought forward his memories of anger. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and transfigured it into a spider. He cast a quick engorgio on the spider to make it grow large enough that Fleur could see the effects. "This is one of the first spells I learned in the dark arts as it is very simple. There are no complicated wand movements, just simply a flick in the direction you want the spell to go. It's called a fire whip and the incantation for it is flagrate flagellum. Ready to see it?" Fleur nodded her head and Harry saw that same fire dancing in her eyes from earlier. This was exciting to her, and that meant that maybe she could be convinced after all. He turned back to the spider he had enlarged and concentrated on his memories of hate.

"Flagrate flagellum!" A large whip of fire erupted from his wand tip and he slashed it vertically severing three of the spiders legs from its body. The legs fell to the ground still twitching as the nerves in it registered the shock of being severed and started to die off. The spider tried to scurry away but fell over and lay twitching on the floor near its legs. There was no mess because the heat had cauterized the wounds. He turned back to Fleur to see her looking pleased instead of sick which is what he had expected. Taking a chance he asked her if she would like to try it.

"Well I mean I don't know. You said they're addicting what if I can't control myself?" She seemed worried but Harry could feel that she wanted to try.

He put his wand away and walked around her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to him as he kissed her neck. "Don't worry Fleur I'm right here and I won't let you get addicted. Now do you have any experience with the mind arts or shielding your mind?"

"Actually I do. Since Papa is the minister he wanted to make sure that his family's minds were safe from invasion. I am no expert as you appear to be, but I do have a good understanding and can apply it."

"Excellent, I want you to close your eyes and listen to my voice and I'll guide you through this." He waited until her eyes shut before he continued on. "Clear your mind now, once you do that squeeze my hand." It took about five minutes but finally Harry felt a light squeeze on his hand. "Good, now think about all the times people have been cruel to you because of being a Veela. All those girls who are jealous of you. The guys who called you names because you wouldn't sleep with them. Concentrate on those feelings of anger. Not the specific memories just the feeling." This time it was almost ten minutes before she squeezed his hand. "Now come back to me Fleur, open your eyes." Her eyes fluttered open and Harry had to admit he felt a definite chill go through him as he got in front of her and looked her in the eyes.

"Now focus on those feelings flick your wand at the spider and say flagrate flagellum." Harry stepped out of her way as she did what he told her to. A thin line of fire perhaps a half inch in diameter shot from her wand and came down on the spider's back leaving a thin burn. The spider let out a hiss and she squeaked in response. "Well done Fleur! For someone who has never attempted the dark arts before even getting results on your first try is very impressive. You actually managed to do damage with it. Can you tell me why you think the spell wasn't as strong as mine?"

Fleur thought for a moment before she opened her mouth. "The emotion behind it. You said these spells were emotion based. Either your anger was just that much more powerful than mine, or I didn't have as good a grasp on the emotions and let them slide while I casted."

"Exactly, the emotions you use are important but you also have to remember to keep control of them and not let your concentration slip. Would you like to try again?" Harry couldn't believe he was sitting here teaching Fleur about the dark arts, but he wasn't going to stop her from learning if that is what she wanted. Without any hesitation she agreed to try again and it wasn't until about four hours later that they finally called it a night. Fleur had managed to improve her control over her emotions and now the fire whip was almost two inches in diameter and capable of slicing right through the spider. At one point Harry had noticed her eyes getting glossy and had promptly gone up and kissed her to pull her back to reality. When he explained to her that the addiction had been setting in, she understood and vowed to not lose focus like that again.

The two of them climbed into bed at two thirty and Harry promised to work with her more on the dark arts tomorrow if she wanted. Fleur had agreed to the lessons and kissed him goodnight before cuddling up next to him. Harry fell asleep that night with thoughts of the beautiful veela in his head and how the conversation with her hadn't gone how he had planned, but everything had worked out in the end.

**Sirius POV**

Sirius flooed into the villa around noon the next day. He had had an excellent night, and was excited to brag about it to his godson. When he regained his senses the first thing he noticed was the delicious smell of food coming from the kitchen. Following his nose he began to wander in the direction of the smell. Sure enough there was a plate of eggs, pancakes, hash browns, and some bacon waiting with a note next to it. He called one of the elves and asked them to grab him some pumpkin juice while he sat down and picked up the note

_Morning Sirius, I thought you might be hungry when you got back so I cooked you some breakfast. I'll be in the training room by the time you are reading this._

Sirius smiled knowing he could count on his godson to take care of him. He had gotten sidetracked and forgotten to eat breakfast. The house elf soon returned with a glass of juice and the French newspaper. As he read through the headlines one in particular caught his eye. It was about the Quidditch World Cup. It was going to be played in England this time, and Ireland was playing Bulgaria. There would be thousands of people there most likely; it would be the perfect chance for a little fun with Lucius and some of the others. They could bring the children to explain their presence there and no doubt Lucius could convince the minister to get them tickets.

He took his time with the meal as he knew Harry would never slack on his training even if he wasn't there to push him through it. That boy worked harder than most adults did. He had no doubts at all that Harry had a good chance at winning the dueling competition. Once he had finished his breakfast he told the elf to clean up and then went and took a shower. He changed over into some of his training robes and then proceeded down the hallway towards the room Harry had said he would be in. When he opened the door though he was met with a scene he had not expected.

Harry was indeed inside the room, and he stood in the center of it dressed in a set of black robes made from a light material to increase mobility. There were a few beads of sweat dripping down his face which meant he had probably been casting something rather strong. What caught Sirius off guard was the blonde haired witch next to Harry with her wand drawn and aimed at the enlarged spider on the other side of the room. He went unnoticed by the two as he slid into the room and perched himself along the wall to watch what was happening. He watched as Harry leaned in and whispered into the girl's ear. She inclined her head slightly which was the only sign that she heard what he said that Sirius saw. A few moments later he watched in awe as the girl gave her wrist a quarter twist and flicked her wand upwards. A dull red light, which Sirius recognized as a blood boiling curse, erupted from the wand tip and soar towards the spider. The spell struck its target dead on and for a moment nothing seemed to happen, but then the spider started to shake and try to thrash around. It opened its mouth and let out an unearthly wail as the curse took effect. It sounded as if metal was being dragged across a stone surface and it made Sirius cringe in annoyance. He watched the girl carefully for any signs of regret or disgust at what she had done, but as he scanned her features all he saw was a smile of content and slight pride shining in her blue eyes. It was at that point that she turned towards Harry and her eyes caught sight of Sirius in the room. She let out a gasp and made to move behind Harry to which Sirius just chuckled and moved from his spot on the wall towards the two.

"Well I was going to originally just thank you for the breakfast and tell you to continue practicing on your own for the day Harry, but I think a couple of explanations are in order now. Also congratulations on a successful blood boiler Miss Delacour. It's not an easy curse by any definition of the word. Now onto the explanation, Harry." He looked pointedly at his godson who just smirked back at him.

**End Sirius POV**

Harry couldn't stop smirking once Sirius had asked him for an explanation. "Well Sirius this is Fleur Delacour, as you know, and she came over last night and I invited her to stay. We had a great time, talked about lots of different things. Then this morning she complained that if she was a guest I was supposed to make her breakfast or something like that. So I got up and told the elves not to worry about cooking as I would be doing it. That was a fiasco and they tried to throw me out of the kitchen, but eventually I got them to give in and let me cook. After that she wanted to practice some different types of magic, and asked if I would be willing to show her. Which brings us to where we are now I suppose. I've been teaching her a couple of basic dark arts spells, and planned on letting her borrow a couple of books to read up on."

Fleur had moved herself out from behind Harry at this point assuming she wasn't in any trouble now. Sirius mulled over what Harry had just told him before he spoke again.

"Well I suppose that explains most of it, but what exactly did you tell miss Delacour that made her have such an interest in the dark arts? I hope it wasn't anything too…sensitive." He emphasized the word sensitive to try and hint at something to Harry however the boy either didn't pick up on it or didn't care.

"I told her where our loyalties truly are. We discussed what that meant for our friendship, and we've decided to look past it. Just because people believe in different ideals doesn't mean they can't get along in other aspects. I mean you and my parents may not have seen eye to eye, but you were friends with them."

"Harry I planned on kidnapping you and taking you to the Dark Lord. I fail to see how that is seeing eye to eye." Sirius was annoyed at having the memory of his former friends brought up.

"Exactly you were only going to kidnap me. You weren't going to harm them at all, and I suspect you would have somehow blamed someone else for the kidnapping. If Pettigrew hadn't done what he did I bet you would still be friends with them. I can tell you didn't hate them." Harry's last statement really struck true with Sirius. He knew his godson was right. He had never hated James and Lily just because they had believed in something different than him. He even liked Remus before the man had turned him in and ruined not only his own life but Harry's as well.

Sirius turned and addressed his next statement to Fleur. "Well I've heard it from him, but why don't you tell me now. Why are you interested in learning this type of magic? Surely your family, especially your father, would be disappointed to find out about what you just did." Sirius's eyes flicked momentarily to the spider's body which lay across the room twitching in silent agony now.

Fleur stood up tall when she turned spoke up, "I want to learn about all types of magic. This is my choice to make, not my family's. While I don't know about the supporting the Dark Lord part I am interested in learning the spells and other knowledge you have. I believe by labeling different types of magic and banning them from being taught we are simply making ourselves more ignorant. There are very few spells that are taught to us at school that are offensive in nature. What would happen if I, or my family, was attacked? I could use these spells to defend us. Yes they're dark, but if I use them to save my life or the life of another person then is it still dark or evil? I don't think it is, which is why I want to learn what Harry, possibly you as well, can teach me." Harry just stood silently and watched as she finished her reasoning. He couldn't fault her logic at all as her argument was sound. In school they were very rarely taught a spell that was offensive in nature.

Once she had finished Sirius nodded and seemed to relax, "Well then I suppose you'll be joining us sometimes while I train Harry? While I am very relaxed, carefree, funny, handsome, and a sex god you should know that as a teacher I am hard and will demand you give your best effort every time. It is your choice if you want to join us or not, and I'm sure Harry will let you know when the sessions are. For now though training is done. Harry you need to relax as tomorrow will be your first duel in the tournament. I don't want you to fall asleep in the middle of casting."

As they exited the room Fleur said she had to get going as she had left a note telling her parents she was going to visit last night, but had neglected to mention she would be spending the night. She hugged Harry good bye and promised to try and make it to his duel tomorrow. Once she was gone Sirius turned to Harry.

"So what made you decide to tell her? You realize you could have ruined everything if she had gone and run to her father." The usual joy in his voice was missing replaced with a very serious tone.

"I know I've been considering this for a while Sirius. I just couldn't do this on my own anymore. You're great and like the father I never had, but I needed someone closer to my age. I wanted someone I could trust. I thought about telling Draco at first, but everyone knows about his father, and with us being friends he would be the first choice for someone looking for information about me to interrogate. Almost no one knows I have any connection at all with Fleur though, she was the safest choice. Plus if I plan on asking her out at some point she has to know who I support. If she had tried to run though I was going to stun and obliviate her."

Sirius's whole body seemed to droop after Harry had finished talking, "I'm sorry Harry. Sometimes I forget you're still just a kid and need people your own age to talk to. After this next year though more people will know about your connection to Fleur."

It was Harry's turn to be confused now, "What do you mean by that?"

"Hogwarts will be hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament this coming year. Have you ever read about it?" Harry nodded and Sirius continued, "Well they've decide to reinstate the competition and Beaubaxtons and Durmstrang will be staying at Hogwarts for the duration of it. I've heard rumors that there might even be a ball this year." Sirius winked at Harry when he said the last part, to which Harry just rolled his eyes.

Harry was excited at the idea of seeing Fleur everyday next year and couldn't wait to tell her about it. "Sounds like this is looking to be one busy summer and school year. Is there any other big event I should know about?" Harry said this half-jokingly but his smile dropped when he saw Sirius open his mouth to speak.

"Well funny you should mention it; we also have the Quidditch World Cup to attend this summer if the dueling tournament finishes in time. There is going to be a gathering of some of the old crowd to have a bit of fun. I was really hoping to participate in it, but if it's not possible then so be it. French women and watching my godson win a dueling competition is a good substitute to causing a bit of trouble at a quidditch match."

Harry asked a few more questions about the quidditch match, but Sirius was very secretive about any details he had. The two spent the rest of the time until dinner reviewing which spells Harry could and could not use tomorrow. The bone breaking hex he had used against Longbottom was approved for use as were a couple of mild pain curses. Harry doubted very much he would have used advanced dark arts even if they were approved. He didn't need any questioning him on where he learned them or why after all.

After dinner the two sat and listened to the radio for any big news, there wasn't anything that concerned them so they flicked it off. Harry was feeling tired from his long night the previous day and excused himself to go to bed. He had a long day ahead and wanted to perform at his best. He fell asleep thinking that soon the whole world would know how powerful he was.

**Neville's POV**

_It was like he was seeing through someone else's eyes. He had no control over his body and couldn't speak. All he could do was watch as the scene unfolded in front of him. A woman was lying on the floor crying as a man dressed in all black came into the room. Then the largest snake Neville had ever seen came slithering into the wooden shack that he was in. Fear gripped him as he held his breath afraid that he might be discovered. The man in all black came over and picked him up, then set him on top of the snake which had coiled up in the corner._

_Finally Neville opened his mouth and spoke, but the voice that came out sent chills through his body._

"_You have served me well Bertha, you should be honored that I chose you to sustain myself. Unfortunately though you have grown too weak for me to use anymore." He turned towards the man in black who had entered, "Dispose of her now."_

_The man bowed deeply and spoke, "As you wish master I shall do as you bid." The man stood and turned towards the woman. He raised his wand and a killing curse erupted bathing the shack in its unholy green light. Neville screamed out desperately wanting to stop the curse and save the woman. Just as the curse struck her everything turned green._

Neville woke up from his dream screaming at the top of his lungs. The scar from when Voldemort had tried to kill him was burning as if it had been set on fire and he felt that his head might actually explode if it didn't stop soon. He was drenched in sweat and his blankets were thrown across the room.

His door was thrown open and his grandmother came rushing in.

"Neville! Cut out that screaming boy! I'm trying to sleep and don't appreciate being woken up like this." Her rant stopped though as she saw how pale he looked. "Oh my what happened? Are you alright Neville?"

She moved to grab the boy and pulled him towards her in a hug, but the boy seized up and started to hyperventilate. He was going into shock so Augusta called for her house elf to get some cocoa for the boy to drink. The elf returned only a moment later with the drink and she had to pry the boy's mouth open and pour it into his throat. After fifteen minutes of alternating between comforting the boy and forcing cocoa in his mouth he finally found his voice. He explained his nightmare to the woman who sat pensively the whole time. She kept a stern expression on her face the whole time, but she knew that there was something off about the dream. It took about thirty minutes before the boy had calmed down enough to go back to sleep. Once he had gone to sleep Augusta went to her fireplace and took a pinch of floo powder from the pot on the mantle. She had an important call to make and was hoping that whatever Neville had seen was nothing more than a nightmare, but deep down she knew better than that.


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

Dumbledore sighed as his fire place calmed down and returned to normal as the head of Augusta Longbottom pulled back through it. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. He had always had suspicions about the scar Neville had received that night, but had never had any conclusive proof. It appeared that there was more to it though if it was now allowing Neville to see into the mind of Lord Voldemort. He could only hope that Tom hadn't recognized the intrusion. If something like this occurred again or started occurring in any type of consistent form he would have to introduce the boy to the art of shielding his mind.

The problem lay in that he couldn't teach the boy himself for fear that Tom could exploit the connection to spy on them. He would have to get Professor Snape to train the boy most likely, and the two did not have a good history at all. That was something that could wait until another time though, hopefully this was just a one-time thing and there would be no repeat.

There was just so much going on already; Preparations were already being made for the upcoming Triwizard Tournament, he needed to find a defense teacher, and just the overall bad feeling he had about this upcoming year. With a final look at the little silver objects on his book shelf Dumbledore extinguished the lights in his office and went back to his room.

**Back in France**

The tournament was going to be held in the French Quidditch stadium. It had been altered to have a large stone ring in the center of it. Harry and the other 31 competitors for his age bracket were lined up in front of the 16 competitors for the adult bracket. The French national anthem was playing as they all stood facing the crowd. The song finished and the announcer shouted that the competition was officially open. The stands erupted into cheers and the noise was deafening. Harry cast a muffliato on himself to dampen the noise so as not to be distracted. He was going to be participating in the second duel of the day. The initial fights were against someone the same age as you so Harry had been paired with a thirteen year old from Belgium. Harry sat back and watched as the referee finished explaining the rules to the first two duelists. He backed out of the way and the two jumped right into action.

The spells were nothing major at first. A couple of disarming charms, some tickling hexes, a few tripping jinxes, and some shields; the two appeared to be trying to get a feel of how each other moved and cast.

Harry observed that the one, a boy of 15, always moved to his left when a spell was cast at him and he was dodging. He was also a left handed caster. He filed that away as he could use it to his advantage if he had to face the boy at some point later on. The other was a girl the same age. She didn't favor one side of the other, but Harry noticed that after each spell she cast there was a split second pause as she decided what to do next. She lacked the fluid continuous casting and movement needed to be truly effective. If she could plan even a couple of spells ahead she probably would have already caught the boy with one and ended it.

After about six or seven minutes the crowd was getting bored of the first year spells and let the duelists know it with their jeers and boos. Harry was finding it hard not to boo himself. He was ready to go out there and have his shot, but these two needed to hurry up.

Finally the girl got lucky when she cast an aquamenti and it struck the boy full on in the stomach knocking the wind out of him. She pressed her advantage and threw three consecutive disarming charms. The boy managed to gasp out a protego to block the first two spells, but the third crashed right through it and caught him in the chest. His wand was wrenched from his fingers and floated through the air. The girl moved forward and caught it. With any threat of retaliation from the boy out of the way she easily hit him with a stunner. The crowd clapped and cheered for her as the referee came out to announce the match over.

Harry walked forward and passed the girl on his way up the stairs of the platform. She met his eyes and gave a little smile and he gave her a quiet congratulations. As Harry took his place on the platform across from his opponent his heart began to race. The blood had all rushed to his head and was pounding in his ears. He hadn't even started yet and he could feel the adrenaline in his veins. When he looked out in the stands as the referee explained the rules he found his gaze locked onto a head of platinum blonde hair. The smile that Fleur shot at him when she noticed he was looking gave him all the encouragement he needed. There was no way he was going to lose this duel or the tournament and embarrass himself in front of her.

The referee signaled for the two of them to bow and begin. Harry dipped low, but he never let his eyes wander from his opponent, an act which the other boy mirrored. Unlike the previous duel Harry and his opponent wasted no time in getting started.

"Incendio! Secar! Secar! Impedimenta!" Harry had barely finished the last incantation as he rolled to the side to avoid any spells his opponent might have cast. He used the roll to close a little bit of the distance between himself and his opponent. As he got back on his feet he found himself casting a protego to absorb a disarming charm.

His opponents robes were slightly singed right above the waist which meant at least one spell had hit. He moved right from casting the shield spell into firing back a stunner and then followed it up with a second stunner slightly to the right of his last. As luck would have it the boy dodged the first stunner, but moved directly into the path of the second one. He managed to get a shield up, but it wasn't nearly strong enough to stop the spell and it cleaved his shield and the boy fell to the ground in a heap.

Harry stared in shock at the fallen form of his opponent. The duel seemed to be over before it really had a chance to start. Surely every opponent he went against wouldn't be this easy to beat. He wasn't going to get cocky from one victory but the quick win did a lot to boost his confidence. The crowd was roaring with applause probably grateful for the fast paced fight. Harry shook hands with the boy once he had been revived and then turned and walked off the stage. There would be two more duels from the school level age bracket before the adult brackets started. The first round of competition was planned for four days. At the end of the fourth day there would be 16 junior competitors and 8 adults left.

Harry walked across the field towards the closest entrance into the stands. He was allowed to leave now that his match had finished, but he figured it couldn't hurt to sit and observe some of the other competition.

The most interesting match he observed was the last junior competitor. The winner of the duel had absolutely zero offensive tactics. He simply shielded or dodged every spell that had been thrown at him. The wide array of defensive spells the boy knew impressed even Harry who prided himself on having a wide repertoire of spells. The most impressive of the shield spells acted as a mirror and was how the boy eventually wound up winning when a bombarda was reflected back on his opponent catching him in the stomach. The crowd let out a collective gasp as there were at least five audible snaps heard. The boy tumbled to the ground clutching his sides and letting out silent screams of agony. His opponent looked on indifferently as he walked over and picked up the dropped wand. The next action caught everyone off guard as the boy delivered a swift kick to his opponents already injured ribs. The boy's eyes rolled up into the back of his skull and then his twitching and silent screaming stopped as the boy passed out from the pain.

The crowd started to roar with indignation at the unnecessary kick to an already beaten opponent. The referee could not do anything though as the rules clearly stated that the opponent had to be incapacitated. As much as Harry thought it was a cheap move the boy was simply making sure his opponent wouldn't try any type of retaliation.

Harry had no interest in staying for the adult duels as he wouldn't have to face any of them. He got up from his seat as the adult competitors started making their way to the platform. Harry had been trying to locate Sirius since the end of his duel, but hadn't been able to find his godfather anywhere. He had shrugged it off and assumed something had come up, but he couldn't help the slight stab of pain he felt at knowing his godfather hadn't stayed to see him compete. He found his way easily enough to the flooing area of the stadium where he gave one last look around for Sirius before he glumly tossed a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace and called out Malfoy Villa.

As soon as Harry landed out of the fireplace in the villa he was on guard. The lights were all out and the curtains pulled allowing very little sunshine into the building. He could make out the shapes of what appeared to be some overturned furniture. With a quick snap of his wrist his wand was gripped firmly in his hand and he was ready to strike. He cast a silent disillusionment charm on himself and quietly began to creep through the house. He worked his way through the foyer into the kitchen where he was noticing more and more that was out of the ordinary. The house elves weren't bustling around the kitchen like they normally would have been and there appeared to be some missing chairs from the small table set off to the side. He finished up his scan of the kitchen and then moved to the entrance way of the living room.

"SURPRISE!" A voice yelled in his ear causing him to dive to the ground and dropping his concealment charm. As he spun on his heel to confront the person behind him a chorus of shouts erupted around the room causing him to fall onto his back. When he saw the mirthful face of his godfather appear above him he smacked a hand to his forehead and let out a groan.

"How long have you been following me around the house Sirius?"

"Since you came through the fireplace Pup; I'm disappointed in you. Normally you would have done a better initial sweep than that and noticed right away that someone was standing right next to you. Don't worry you'll pay for it next time we can do some serious training. Anyway you got lucky this time; it's just a small surprise celebration for you winning your first duel."

Harry sat up as Sirius was explaining what was going on, and he got his first good look around the room. Fleur and the Delacours were there along with Draco and his family. Harry was shocked to see his friend as he hadn't mentioned going to France at all when they had talked about summer plans.

Once Harry had picked himself up he greeted and thanked everybody for showing up. Once he was done he broke off from the small group of people exchanging pleasantries and getting to know each other to talk to Sirius. Once he had gotten him to the kitchen out of earshot he asked the questions he was curious about.

"Sirius, I know that sometimes things may come up, but how could you not be there to support me today? And this surprise was great, but how did you convince the Malfoys to come out here?" Harry didn't want to sound like he was whining, but he couldn't deny that he was upset about Sirius not being there to support him.

Sirius had a look between hurt and confusion on his face as he answered, "Pup I was there. I saw you wipe the floor with that kid from Belgium. I've never been more proud than I was when you make it look so easy. I just left right after that to start setting this surprise up, and to entertain the Malfoys. As to how I got them here I simply invited them. You've made quite the impression on Mr. Malfoy throughout the years and he was happy to come and congratulate you."

Harry immediately felt bad about accusing his godfather of not being there, but Sirius wouldn't hear anything about it. He told Harry not to worry and that he would be there for every match he fought right up until he won the tournament. Harry smiled and hugged Sirius before he walked back to the living room to talk to the rest of his guests. He smiled when he saw that the Malfoys and Delacours seemed to be getting along great with each other. Mr. Delacour and Mr. Malfoy were sitting off to the side quietly discussing something. Sirius walked over to join them when he came out of the kitchen. The two adults looked up and greeted Sirius and then started talking to him in a manner that they were trying to catch him up on what he had missed in the discussion.

Mrs. Malfoy and Mrs. Delacour were sitting just a few feet away from their husbands discussing different shopping centers in France and who had the best supplies. Then Harry found the group he was really looking for. Draco, Fleur, and Gabby were all sitting in a corner on the opposite side of the room from the adults. Fleur looked up when Harry spotted them and smiled. As he approached the group she stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck then pulled him in for a kiss. Harry's mind seemed to process two things. The first being that he loved when she kissed him and he wished she would never stop; the second was that she had just kissed him in front of her parents, most importantly her father.

Harry wasn't afraid of anyone really. He had no fears that he could think of. Some people were afraid of snakes, birds, spiders, death, etc…but he had never felt fear of anything. Well he hadn't felt fear since he had found out he was a wizard before that when he was at the orphanage he felt fear every day. However being in the same room as Fleur's father while said girl had her lips pressed firmly against his did send a nervous shiver down his spine. It really wasn't fair though, how was he supposed to be able to defend himself properly with his back to the man and his brain only functioning partially. Admittedly, the catcalling and whistling coming from Sirius wasn't helping his situation at all. It was probably only a few seconds but felt like significantly longer when Fleur finally pulled back. To Harry's surprise none of the adults said anything except for Sirius's remarks. The tension Harry had felt dissipated when Draco stood up and held out his hand.

"How you doing Harry mate? Heard you beat the snot out of some guy today. I can't wait to hear all about it."

Harry shook his friend's hand and smiled to show his thanks for the distraction from the previous event. "I'm good, not even tired really. My opponent today wasn't very good and I'm hoping that the next one puts up more of a fight. How long are you and your family going to be here? Maybe you can see my next duel." Harry was secretly hoping that Draco wouldn't be staying long as it would take away from the time he got to spent with Fleur.

"We're only here for today. Sirius told us he was expecting you to win and thought it would be nice if we could be here to celebrate. Plus my birthday is coming up soon so my parents are taking me shopping in a little bit. I must say though Harry, I can't believe you never told me about these two beautiful girls you knew. Trying to keep all the good ones for yourself Potter?" Draco said the last part with a smile and a laugh to let Harry know he wasn't really serious about his accusation. Before Harry could respond though Fleur cut him off.

"That is a good question. So Mr. Potter you've been keeping me a secret from your other friends and I would like to know why. Surely you're not embarrassed of me?" The whole thing was said sweetly, but Harry could detect the underlying hint of punishment should his answer not be satisfactory. Thinking quick he came up with the best lie he could.

"Well dear, I just didn't want my friends getting jealous that I had an angel for a girlfriend. They might have got the idea that I could find them equally as beautiful girls, but then would have been sadly disappointed because no one comes close to matching you. Then I would have had to deal with fighting them off just to keep you for myself, and good friends are so hard to come by I'd hate to have to keep replacing them." Harry could barely keep the laughter down as he finished his explanation. Draco had lost it about halfway through and had his head in his lap while his body shook with mirth. Gabby had done no better than Draco and she was now half in her seat and half leaning against Draco using him to keep her from falling to the floor. The only one who managed to keep their composure was Fleur surprisingly.

"Well said Mr. Potter and don't you ever forget you have the most beautiful girlfriend." Harry was shocked as Fleur referred to herself as his girlfriend. He had said it in jest to try and rile her up, but she seemed to have accepted it. That was certainly something he would have to ask her about later when they had a little more private time.

Across the room the adults had all stopped their conversations and were now watching their children interact with each other. All of them were smiling at how easily the kids had gotten along. It was always so easy to make friends when you were younger. When there was no war or crisis tearing apart families and dividing countries. They wished their children would never have to know what that was like, but none of them were naïve. The Malfoys and Sirius knew especially that their children (Sirius looked at Harry as his own son) would have a direct impact in the coming war. While the Delacours weren't aware that their daughters would be involved in a war they never made it seem like the world was a place full of flowers and rainbows that their daughters would have an easy time in. This was why Mr. Delacour currently found himself in a confusing situation.

Fleur had come to him the other night and asked if she could spend time at the villa with Harry and Sirius because they had offered to teach her magic. He had initially been confused as to what they could possibly be teaching her and had asked. He almost wished he hadn't now though, if he had just said yes he could of kept the innocent picture of his oldest daughter that he had since she was a little girl. She had explained that Harry and Sirius were both well trained in the dark arts branch of magic, and she had found them to be interesting. At first he had been totally against the idea of his daughter learning such a terrible branch of magic, but as he listened to her explain her reasons and how dark magic differed from normal magic he found his resolve crumbling. He knew he was going to cave and let her have her way, but maybe he could convince them to put some boundaries in. He would not want her learning the Unforgivables for example. He saw no reason why she should need to learn the worst of the worst. Also maybe they could gloss over some of the torture spells. With his mind made up Mr. Delacour excused himself from his spot on the couch and walked towards Harry. He clapped the boy on the shoulder and the way his eyes widened when he saw who was standing behind him was comical to say the least. _Poor boy probably thinks I'm going to reprimand him for Fleur kissing him he thought._

"Mr. Potter could I have a word with you in private please?" The boy rose from his seat looking like he was going to the executioner's block. He lead the boy to the kitchen and cast a muffliato charm to make sure no one could listen in on what he was about to say. Once he was satisfied that the spell was in place and no one had tampered with it he fixed the boy in front of him with a stare. Truth be told he knew very little about the young man except that he was exceptionally talented with a wand and that he was charming. It seemed like the boy knew all the right words to say to put anyone at ease.

"Well let's not skate around the topic then. My daughter has expressed to me an interest in staying here with you for the duration of the tournament so that she could learn some things from you and your godfather." If he had thought the boy's eyes were wide earlier now they were like saucers. "When I initially questioned her on what she was so interested in learning, and with a little bit of prodding, I was able to get her to tell me. I must admit I was quite shocked by the revelation that someone as young as you could already have been exposed to the darker parts of our world. Like any father would do I immediately turned her down and was on the verge of forbidding her from ever returning here. However, I stopped myself because I remember what it's like to be young and told not to do something. She pleaded with me to allow her this opportunity though and she did make a very strong case. So after taking a little bit of time to think it over I have decided to allow it, so long as a few rules are put in place."

Harry sat silent for the whole time Mr. Delacour was talking. It was partially from him attempting to be respectful and partially from shock that Fleur had actually asked her father for permission to learn the dark arts. To be honest Harry wouldn't have blamed the man if he had forbid her from ever seeing him again. If he had been put in a similar situation he definitely would have said no. Obviously Harry would have to talk to Sirius about Fleur staying with them, but he really didn't see any reason the man would say no. He focused his attention back on Mr. Delacour as the man opened his mouth again.

"The rules aren't anything way out of control or ridiculous rather just things that I think my daughter will have no need for. Firstly, I would ask that you do not teach her anything about the Unforgivables. They are widely regarded as the worst of the worst and I see no reason for my daughter to learn such things. Secondly, I know there are a great many curses used solely for the purpose of torturing someone and these to I see no reason for her to learn. She expressed an interest in defending herself, and there are curses that can do that without torturing. Also like I said I remember what it was like to be young, but if it's possible please have my daughter stay in a separate room at night." Here he fixed Harry with a glare, but it didn't quite reach his eyes which shone with laughter. Harry was glad he had become so good at reading people throughout the years otherwise he might have actually been nervous about being alone in a sound proofed room with the man.

"I think all of that can be arranged Mr. Delacour. To be honest I have just started with the Unforgivables myself and even now the only one I have any type of real skill with is the Imperious. As far as the torture curses go those can be kept mild. All these curses cause varying amounts of pain obviously, but the worst of the batch we can skip over. I will definitely make sure she has her own room, and I'd like to explain about earlier sir. I had no idea she was going to…" Harry was cut off by the laughter coming from the older man.

"Oh please Harry, I married her mother I know exactly what it's like. Veela can be very spontaneous with their displays of affection. That was very mild compared to some of the things her mother did while I was dating her. Oh that does bring back some memories…but we won't get into that now. One last thing before we go back to the rest of your guests; what exactly is the relationship between my daughter and yourself?"

Harry found himself wishing he knew the answer to that question as well. "Well I'm not too sure to be honest Mr. Delacour. We've not talked about being anything more than friends as of now." It was a lame response and didn't really give an answer to the question but it was the best he could think of. Mr. Delacour just seemed to think on it for a moment before he nodded his head and told Harry to head back into the living room. He asked him to send Sirius in so that they could discuss the same thing that the two of them just had. Harry did as he was asked and told Sirius that Mr. Delacour was requesting to talk to him before he headed back to his group of friends.

His friends tried to grill him on what he had been talking about for so long, but Harry just kept quiet about the situation. He wasn't sure how many people knew what was going on and he didn't want to ruin the opportunity that was being given to him. After another hour or so the Malfoys excused themselves and said they would be going to pick up Draco's birthday present before going out for a nice meal. The Delacours also decided to excuse themselves at that point. So Harry and Sirius said goodbye to all of their guests one by one as they left through the floo. Fleur was the last one to leave and she kissed Harry on the cheek before she too disappeared into the roaring flames.

"Don't look too sad Harry she moves in tomorrow. I've already had the elves start preparing an extra bedroom for her, although if past situations are anything to go by she probably won't be needing it very much." Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively while Harry just sent a stinging hex at him. The rest of the night the two spent talking about the different tactics Harry had seen being used during the duels. When he got to the one where the guy had only performed defensive tactics Sirius had choked a little on the firewhiskey he had been drinking. He had mentioned how he wished he could of seen it which is when Harry remembered the pensieve he had bought two years ago when he had been trying to learn more about storing his memories safely. He had never really had a use for it up until now. He called for Twink and asked the elf to retrieve it from his room. The elf happily obliged and soon Harry and Sirius were diving into the pool of silvery liquid to watch the duel again. The two emerged about thirty minutes later with different thoughts on their mind. Sirius was worried because the boy seemed very powerful and possibly a real threat to Harry's chances of winning; but Harry on the other hand had decided on a strategy against the boy. The boy's opponent today had lost because he got annoyed at never having any spell sent at him. He would pause, waiting for his opponent to retaliate or do something, but when Harry faced this boy he planned on not letting up at all. He was going to barrage the boy with everything he had. There would be zero time for the boy to reinforce his shield or cast a new one. After five or six spells the shield would fall and the boy would be in some serious trouble.

Harry had decided against going to the rest of the duels now that he knew he would be training Fleur. He could use the time to better his skills, and he also feared that he might get set on a way to defeat someone only to find out they had switched their strategies or dueling styles. After all that was what he planned on doing. He was never going to repeat a series of spells or a particular strategy.

It was about one o clock the next day when the fireplace came to life and Fleur stepped out with her trunk in hand. She was wearing a blue sun dress with a white lily print down the side of it. The dress stopped just above her thighs, showing enough skin to get any guy's imagination going but without appearing trashy. She had her hair down and it hung about 3 inches below her shoulders. It was odd, no matter how many times he saw her Harry was always struck by her simple beauty. She wasn't like most of the girls he had seen at Hogwarts who wore a lot of make up or glamour charms to appear prettier than they really were. Fleur didn't need any of that and it was one of the things that drew him to her in the first place. He liked people who felt comfortable just being themselves and didn't have to do everything in their power to stand out at every possible chance.

"Hey there Fleur, you're just in time to eat lunch with Sirius and I if you want. The house elves cooked up some duck steaks and they smell great. You can go to the kitchen and I'll take your trunk to your room for you." Harry waved his wand to make the trunk feather light before he picked it up and carried it down the hall to the room the elves had prepared for her. It was conveniently located directly across the hall from his room, a fact that had Sirius laughing all morning. It took him only a minute to get the trunk situated and then he was heading back to the kitchen to join Sirius and Fleur who were already seated around the small dining table. He didn't realize how hungry he was until he got another smell of the duck that was sitting on the table waiting for him. Sirius and he had gone for a short run earlier that morning just to make sure the two of them were at least staying in shape. While the three of them ate Sirius began to fill Fleur in on what she would be learning and at what pace. He told her not to get frustrated if some spells wouldn't work at all on her first couple of tries. The spells Harry had shown her the other night had been simple, but as they got more and more advanced she might experience less results. When Sirius had finished up with explaining what he was going to teach her Harry added that if she wanted he could show her how to heal some of the curses as well. Certain dark arts curses only had one spell that could fix them the right way. Any gash caused by the sectumsempra spell could only be healed with the counter curse to it, and if the limb was severed by the curse there was no way to reattach it at all. It was about two thirty by the time they finished with lunch and their discussion. Fleur had had a few questions which Sirius and Harry had happily answered for her.

"Well Fleur why don't you go get changed into something more comfortable and I would suggest tying your hair up into a bun or pony tail so it doesn't get in the way of your eyes. Harry and I will go to the training room and get it ready."

Once Harry and Sirius had entered the training room they exchanged a look before both were on the move. Harry dodged the yellow light coming towards him he recognized as a spell to cause multiple cuts across the body. It was a milder version of sectumsempra, mostly used for torture as the wounds could be easily healed and then re-opened. He was successful in dodging the spell, but was immediately back on the defensive as he shielded against a bone breaker. Finally getting a chance to get a spell off Harry decided to try out a new spell he had just recently read about. If cast correctly it caused the victim to slowly freeze from the inside out. It was simple enough to reverse if you knew what you were doing, but to someone who couldn't recognize the curse by the time they realized something was wrong it would be too late.

"Cryomortis! Lacerous! Crucio! Protego Maxima!" Harry got his spells off and cast a shield just to be safe. He was thankful he did when the violet flash of light flared against his shield.

"Organ failure curse Sirius? I didn't realize we were stepping it up that level. Well no holding back now I suppose." The incantation for a stomach rupturing curse died on his tongue though as the door knob turned and Fleur started to walk in. His lapse in concentration cost him though as he was blind-sided by Sirius's next spell. His vision went black as the effects of the spell started. The curse was one that caused temporary blindness in your opponent, it was very draining to cast, but well worth it if you could land it as it couldn't be removed by anyone but the caster. The incantation for it was noxios and as of yet Harry had never been able to beat Sirius with the spell in place.

He focused hard on the sounds around the room, it was made more difficult by the added presence of Fleur because he had to listen extra hard to distinguish between Sirius and her. He was faring pretty well for the moment having been able to dodge a couple of curses, but he wasn't looking forward to testing his luck much longer. Pain tore through his stomach as he failed to dodge a curse. At first there was nothing but a pulling sensation, but then it began to stretch further and then the skin was tearing itself apart. It wasn't long before he felt the warmth of blood seeping from the wound. He became light headed and fell to his knees. He pressed his hand against the wound to try and stop the blood from spilling, but it was too large to cover. As he collapsed on the floor he could swear he heard Fleur shout out and the last thing he remembered was someone lifting his head up into their lap.

When Harry came around his head was hurting, but compared to some of the pain he had felt it wasn't more than a minor annoyance. He was propped against the wall in the training room with a bandage wrapped firmly around his abdomen. Sirius and Fleur were still in the room and it appeared that Sirius was instructing her on some curse or other. Harry couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Here he was leaning against the wall after being hit by some skin tearing curse he'd never even heard of before, and his godfather had kept right on with his training plan like nothing had happened. Harry couldn't even find it in himself to be upset with how things had turned out because he would have done the same thing had the situations been reversed. The laughter caused a sharp pain to rip through his stomach and he had to gasp for air at the unexpected sensation. His gasp was what finally alerted the two other people in the room that he had woken up. Fleur looked relieved, but Sirius had a furious expression on his face.

"If you ever let yourself get distracted like that again I'll let you bleed even longer. Just because someone enters a room is that reason for you to stop focusing on your opponent?" Harry dropped his head afraid to meet Sirius's eyes and see the disappointment there. "No it's not and it could have cost you your life if this had been a real situation. I'm very disappointed in you. I don't want you training anymore until after your next fight in the competition. That wound is still tender and could be re-opened very easily. It'll be fully healed in time for you to duel, but only if you have minimal movement for these next few days."

The whole time Sirius was talking Harry kept his eyes on the ground in front of him. Anything was better than looking up into the eyes of the one person he viewed as a parent figure and knowing they were upset with him. Once Sirius had finished his reprimanding he told Fleur they were done practicing for the day and she was free to do what she wanted for the rest of the night. Her next lesson would be tomorrow at two o clock after they had eaten lunch. He walked out of the room once he had told Fleur when to be ready by leaving Harry alone with her. Harry still didn't lift his eyes even when she began to talk to him.

"Harry I'm glad to see you're okay. I have to admit I know you said the dark arts have some nasty effects, but seeing one first hand on a human gave me a real shock. I didn't think I would be seeing something like that so soon. I was horrified by it to be honest with you, and part of me wanted to leave and not continue with these lessons. Then the other part of me said it was good to see it now though, and know exactly what I was getting into that way if a situation arises where I have to use one on someone I won't go into shock and freeze up once I see what happens to them." Fleur was getting worried about what was going on in Harry's mind now that he still hadn't lifted his head. "Anyway, I know Sirius said no training and minimal movement for you, so I guess that counts out any fun I had planned to have with you for a couple of days, what a shame that is." Finally she saw the very faintest trace of a smile from Harry and she kept on. "Although I suppose you'll need some help showering and all. There might be some hard to reach spots that I could get for you." She made sure to change the tone of her voice to a very thick French accent filled with lust as she said the last part. That did it though and Harry looked up for the first time since he had woken up. His normal smirk was in place on his face as he took in the beautiful girl in front of him.

"Well I guess I'd have to be a fool to turn down an offer from a Veela to help me shower. I mean there are guys who would probably sacrifice limbs for this opportunity. Do you think you could help me up?" Fleur shook her head at the boy as she held out a hand for him to use to pull himself up. Once he had gotten up the two started to walk back to his room. There was a slightly stiff feeling to the new skin he had covering the wound and it made it slightly awkward to walk. Once they had reached the room Harry opened the door and walked in. He had tried to take his shirt off without magic, but found it impossible to lift his arms to pull it off. Feeling no need to be embarrassed in front of Fleur he banished all of his clothes leaving himself standing naked with his back to her. Her eyes widened slightly at such a bold display. He smiled over his shoulder at her as he walked into the bathroom; it took the sound of the water starting to snap her out of her momentary stupor. Harry had always been confident and even borderline arrogant at some times but she had never pegged him for the type to just drop clothes in front of someone like that. She just shook her head wondering how much she still had to learn about the mysterious boy who had captured her attention so much. It was about an hour later when the two emerged from the bathroom after a very relaxing shower. Harry summoned himself a pair of boxers from his drawer and put them on before he climbed into bed. He wasn't ready for Fleur to go to her own room, but he wasn't sure how to ask her to stay either. Normally he could have been the cocky, sarcastic Harry making some suggestive comment, but she had just been nice enough to help him and it just didn't fit the mood. If he wanted to be honest with himself it was one of the only times he had ever felt awkward around a girl.

Fleur had picked out the robe she had worn the other night when she had first learned about Harry's dark tendencies and wrapped it around herself. She made her way over to his bed and sat on the edge of it while running a hand through his hair. He had some very soft hair she thought and it was comforting to run her hands through it.

"Harry yesterday you called me your girlfriend and at the time I went with it, but were you serious? I don't mean to hurt you or sound like a bitch but I just don't think I'm ready for us to go to that level of seriousness yet and…" Harry didn't let her finish her sentence as he kissed her quickly.

"Don't worry I was only joking. I don't think we're ready to be in a relationship yet either. Don't get me wrong I really like you, but we haven't really had a chance to get to know each other except through letters. I think we should spend some more time together in person, this summer is a good start and next year with the tournament we'll have a real good chance to get to know each other. Maybe at the end of next year we can really take a look at our relationship and see where we stand. Now come on and lay with me for a bit, I really like falling asleep with you." An hour later that was what Sirius saw when he poked his head into his godson's room. Fleur had her head resting on Harry's while his arm wrapped around her hugging her to his side. Both wore content smiles on their face. He shut the door quietly so as to not wake them up. He walked back to his own room with a smile on his face and one thought on his mind, "I wonder if they even realize what's happening to them."

The days until Harry's next duel had passed in the same manner with the exception that Harry only watched as Fleur learned. He was able to offer pointers every now and then for her, but other than that he sat quietly and let Sirius be the teacher. Fleur's progress wasn't anything like Harry's had been, she was far from a natural or prodigy at the dark arts but she wasn't hopeless in it. She had yet to spend a night in her own room and so the elves had taken the liberty of moving all of her stuff into a closet in Harry's room, no one minded the arrangement.

By the time Harry got to the stadium on the day of his duel he was practically shaking with pent up magic. He hadn't been able to use any magic for almost 4 days and it had really begun to build up in him. He couldn't wait for a chance to just let loose. Harry was going to be the first duel today and he was going to be facing a 16 year old boy from Ireland.

The boy's name was Scotty McGlaggen and from what Harry had heard he had easily defeated his opponent in the first round. Apparently the boy had been ruthless, using only blasting, cutting, and bone breaking curses to subdue his opponent. Harry didn't think the boy could match any of the pain Sirius had put him through with some of his curses, but he wasn't exactly in a hurry to find out how good the boy was at causing pain. If that was how the boy played this time though Harry fully intended to match him spell for spell. He'd be damned if he was going to let someone hurt him and not feel something in return. Once the announcer was done listing off the duels for the day and the remaining competitors he called for Harry and Scotty to go to the platform. The two left their seats on the bench and made their way to the appointed side of the platform.

Scotty, even for his age, was tall. He had red hair, not as blaringly orange as Weasley's though. He only had a few freckles and brown eyes, but it was his smirk that really irked Harry about the boy. He was confident and the smirk reminded him so much of the one that Longbottom had on when Dumbledore had cheated him of his victory in the Great Hall. His temper flared but he quickly slammed it down with his mind shields. The referee stepped out from between the two and signaled for them to bow. Harry gave a curt nod of the head which was mirrored by the other boy.

Harry didn't go for his normal strategy of firing the first spell this time. Instead he waited for his opponent to begin casting. This boy was as of now an unknown and Harry needed an idea on how he was going to go at this. True to what he had heard Harry found himself quickly dodging two bone breakers aimed at his wand arm. A split second after he had dodge he was countering a reducto that had been aimed at his knee. The boy had some good aim which would make this duel significantly harder. Normally an opponent would just throw a curse in your general direction and hope for the best, but this boy was pinpointing spells to cause the most damage. As of yet Harry hadn't been able to create an opportunity to send a spell back at his opponent. He dodged out of the way of another reducto, but this time he wasn't able to fully block the secondary curse. There was the pain of being hit with a pipe or cricket bat that erupted in his hip. Luckily he had only been partially hit thanks to his shield otherwise the blasting curse could have done some serious damage, right now it felt like only a bruise. Deciding it was time he got to make a move Harry shielded the next curse instead of dodging it. He took the opportunity of Scotty's guess that he would dodge again to fire back.

"Levicorpus!" The spell had been aimed at the boy's ankles and caught him off guard. Scotty was flung into the air by his ankles as the spell collided. Harry pressed his advantage and shot two bone breakers at the boy's legs. Scotty had managed to free himself, but not in time to dodge both of the bone breakers. One connected solidly with his right shin and a splintering sound was heard as the bone broke. He caught himself from falling face first into the platform but was unable to stop his already injured leg from slamming into the ground.

Harry tried to end it with a stunner but the boy reacted too quickly and he rolled out of the way. He was on one knee and had cast a numbing charm on his shin to make his leg useable. The boy was back on his feet and the confident smirk was gone now replaced with a look of pure rage. _Good, Harry thought, get angry so you can't think clearly. _As if Scotty was reading his mind the boy's expression suddenly calmed down and shifted back to that damn smirk.

"Well don' Harry. I must admit I definitely underestimated you to start, but that won't happen again now. You got me with that nifty ankle curse but…umphff." Harry had heard enough from the boy and wasn't going to just let him stand there and talk. He had hit the boy with a reducto right in the stomach, it wasn't fully powered but had enough behind it to do some serious internal bruising.

This time the look of rage didn't leave Scotty's face. He started casting recklessly, using too much power for spells and not aiming at all. Harry was having trouble keeping up with the amount of spells being thrown at him and the inevitable happened as reductor caught him in the elbow. The spell blasted his joint to pieces and his arm fell at an odd angle. His wand had started to fall, but he caught it deftly with his left hand.

The crowd loved the display of power and the shouts were practically deafening. Harry was having trouble thinking between the pain in his elbow and the noise level, but he wasn't going to lose this. He forced himself to retreat into his mind to hide from the noise. As promised Harry was going to end this with Scotty in a lot of pain now that the boy had decided to go strictly for a brute force finish. He took aim and shot three carefully placed spells towards his opponent whose bombardment had slowed down because he was getting tired. Two bone breakers hit Scotty in the thigh midway between the knees and the hips. He instantly fell forward as he lost all ability to support his own body weight. The third spell was a modified stinging hex which gave the illusion of not just one, but thirty or so simultaneous stings. The spell connected solidly with his eyes and the boy let out a shriek of pain. There was no actual mark or stings, but the spell tricked the mind into believing the body was being stung. The spell was classified as slightly dark because it tampered with the mind, but it had been allowed in the tournament because it wasn't a permanent effect.

In his blind rage Scotty used the last of his energy to hurl two more spells at Harry, which he blocked using a protego since there wasn't much power in either of the spells. Harry took pity on the boy and decided he had caused him enough pain. One stunner later and the boy lay face down on the ground. If Harry had thought the crowd was loud earlier then this was on the verge of a riot. Harry felt the pain in his elbow come back anew as he came down from the adrenaline rush he had been on throughout the whole duel. Even the pain in his hip which he had initially thought to be mild had worsened because of the movement. After the referee announced him the winner he turned and began to limp off the stage, his arm hanging limply at his side. A woman in a mediwitch outfit with a stretcher floating along behind her came running up to him.

"I don't want to hear any protesting go ahead and get on this stretcher so I can get ye fixed up and ready for your next duel." Harry was immediately reminded of Madam Pomphrey and her no nonsense attitude when it came to injuries. He smiled a little bit as he climbed onto the stretcher and let the woman levitate him inside the stadium.

Three hours later and Harry found himself lounging on the couch in the villa with Fleur using his shoulder as a pillow. Sirius was sitting across from the two in a comfy arm chair he had claimed as his and only his.

"You were really impressive today Harry. I know if you used all of your skills you probably could have finished that duel without even being hurt. Do you understand why Lucius and I decided to have you compete in this now?" Harry looked at his godfather with confusion. He hadn't thought there had been a real reason other than for him to see Fleur, but now that he thought about it it was odd. He shook his head and asked Sirius to explain it. "Well Pup, this may come as a shock to you, but there are sometimes when you might be in a duel or a fight where you won't be able to use dark magic or full force. We thought this might be a good way for you to learn proper escalation of spell use and how to fight even better without the dark arts. What happens a lot when someone learns the dark arts like you did is that they become solely reliant on the dark magic to solve all of their problems. This was an effort by us to circumvent that."

Harry nodded his head as his Godfather finished explaining it to him. It really did make a lot of sense that way. He didn't know what his role would be in the coming war, but it made sense that as an unmarked supporter he may not be able to use dark magic all the time.

Sirius saw that his godson understood the importance of this tournament not just for the purpose of showing off his power but also learning control. There was something else he needed to talk about though and with Fleur passed out and asleep this might be his best opportunity.

"Harry we need to talk about something else also." Harry nodded his head for him to continue, "The Triwizard tournament this year is only for those who are 17. It was one of the restrictions put on it by the board of governors for them to permit it. I don't want you trying to enter it. I know you may be tempted, but trust me when I say no good will come of it. There are plans already in place for the tournament that will aid in that potion that is being made. If all goes right by the end of the tournament it will be complete and ready to be used."

Harry was initially disappointed at missing out on the chance to compete in the tournament, but the more he thought about it the less he worried since it would give him more time to study. "That's fine Sirius I have no problem not entering. I have to admit I am excited for that potion to be done. I haven't seen him since my first year and even then I only knew him as my professor. I wonder if he'll be able to remember me." Harry was nervous and not afraid to admit it. Anyone who met the Dark Lord and said they weren't nervous was lying or just stupid. He wanted to show the man who had mentored him that his time hadn't been poorly invested. He held no fake ideas that the Dark Lord would praise him and tell him how amazing he was. However even if he got a slight sign of respect or it pleased the Dark Lord then he knew he had done well. Harry laid his head back and closed his eyes wondering not for the first time how different he would have been if his parents had raised him. He doubted he would ever have enjoyed that life as much as he did this one.

**FLEUR'S POV**

Fleur had been sleeping happily on the shoulder of the boy she had just watched defeat someone who was 3 years older than him. She knew Harry was powerful for his age, but to see him best someone who was almost the same age as her was another eye opener. It seemed like the more time she spent with him the more he continued to amaze her. The sound of Sirius's voice had started to wake her up, but she had kept her eyes closed hoping that she would fall back asleep. She was only half listening up until he had mentioned the Triwizard tournament. She had been curious as to what could possibly be going on with the tournament and what potion Sirius had been talking about. As she listened to Harry's response though she began to piece together what the potion was for.

Not for the first time in the past week or so Fleur wondered if she really belonged with these people. Here she was using the shoulder of someone who was helping to revive the most feared dark lord as a pillow. He never seemed mean though. He was never an asshole and he always treated her kindly, even the Malfoys had been exceptionally well mannered and kind. Her father had expressed how interested he was by some of the things he had talked about with Mr. Malfoy that day they had come to congratulate Harry. Then Draco had been nothing but a gentleman to her and her sister. Gabriella had mentioned trying to write to Draco like she had been doing with Harry. It didn't make sense to her at all. How could these people go from being so kind and caring one minute to walking into some town or home and killing and torturing everyone in it? It appeared to her there was much more to all of this than she was able to understand at the moment.

She really wasn't sure what she wanted out of this friendship. It had been so nice just to have someone accept her for her and not for the veela qualities she possessed. Now she was becoming attracted to him and found she didn't mind. Even knowing about his darker side hadn't caused her to draw back like she would have thought it would. For now she was content on where they were and wouldn't trade it for anything. She adjusted slightly on the couch next her to friend and laid her head down in his lap. It was admittedly a lot more comfortable than using a shoulder. It was only a few minutes later that she drifted off back into an easy sleep.

**END FLEUR POV**

"Come on Harry you promised me!" Harry groaned as he let himself be dragged to the fireplace. He had jokingly promised Fleur earlier that if she managed to learn at least two new spells today he would go shopping with her that night and be a dress up dummy. It was a promise he was definitely regretting now. Sirius had declined the invitation Harry had offered him to join them, but he had tossed a camera to Fleur reminding her to get lots of pictures for him.

"It's a bloody conspiracy here. Can't a guy trust his own godfather to get him out of trouble anymore?"

"Sorry Pup, I was never good at getting out of trouble. Now getting into trouble I was a pro at though, and you are most certainly taking after me in that aspect." Sirius's laughter was the last thing Harry heard before the flames engulfed him.

Harry stepped out of the fireplace right behind Fleur. They were in an upscale version of the Leaky Cauldron. When you exited out the back door you were in one of the many French shopping districts. Store after store Fleur dragged him through, making him try on anything and everything. After seven or eight different stores he had thought maybe the torture was over. The worst he had to try on was a pink see through night gown.

Well he thought that was the worst until she walked into the bikini section of the current store.

"There's no way. You can't really be thinking about doing this to me. I absolutely refuse to wear these." Harry had started to walk out of the section when Fleur's voice stopped him.

"Harry of course you're not trying these on, but you can keep going if you don't want to help me pick out a new one." Harry stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't sure if he wanted to give in and go back. On one hand he wanted nothing more than to see her in a skimpy little bathing suit, but on the other hand he hated appearing to be controlled by a woman. He had worked hard this far to never let himself be like most guys who would do whatever the girl they liked wanted. Making a choice, albeit a very hard one Harry told Fleur he was going to wait outside while she picked. Before he changed his mind Harry quickly made his way out of the front door.

There were only eight competitors left in the junior division. After today there would only be four and Harry was determined to be one of them. He would once again be going first to open the day. This time his opponent was a 15 year old American girl. She was shorter than him despite her age. Her hair was tied back in a bun like he had instructed Fleur to do when they were training. Unlike his last opponent, Scotty, this girl Megan didn't seem cocky or confident. If anything she just seemed at ease, completely and fully relaxed. Harry had only known someone to reach a state of mind like that under one circumstance. This girl was proficient in the mind arts just like he was. He would have to be careful for any type of probing in his mind to distract him now. It opened up a whole new field of battle when he had to watch out for multiple strikes. Despite the obvious reason to be concerned Harry couldn't bring himself to be worried. He had come this far already and losing now wasn't an option for him. His confidence was at an all-time high even after the injuries last round. At this point in the competition his age wasn't really an advantage anymore as the competitors now wouldn't be taking anything for granted.

Just like the previous duels the ref stepped back and Harry bowed to his opponent and then the fun began. Right off the back he knew this wasn't going to be like any fight he had ever been in before. The girl immediately reached to her pocket and pulled out a small piece of something. Next thing he knew the small block was being enlarged and it changed its consistency from one of plastic to metal before his eyes. Transfiguring anything into metal was some of the most advanced transfiguration there was.

The girl was completely obscured by the metal wall now, and Harry decided it couldn't hurt to cast the revealing spell that Flitwick had showed him. To his relief nothing showed up, which meant the girl was still holding her position behind the wall. Deciding to test his luck he cast a blasting hex into the wall. He wasn't surprised when the wall just absorbed the spell with minimal damage done. Magic did not travel well at all through metal which is partially why wands were made from wood. So he wouldn't be able to blow a hole through the wall, but that didn't mean he couldn't move it. He cast a fairly strong banishing charm at the wall in an attempt to hit the girl with it. This time he was surprised as the wall didn't even budge. She must have put a sticking charm in place already anticipating his moves. Before he could think of another strategy to get by the wall his attention was drawn to a figure that had just appeared around the wall. A large brown bear was now making its way towards him with its claws fully extended and teeth bared.

Harry couldn't stop himself as he commented on the creature, "Conjuration as well as transfiguring to metal? I'm really impressed that is some complicated magic." Normally he hated people who made idle chatter during a fight, but this was the first time he had ever faced an opponent who used transfiguration as a primary weapon. Focusing on the bear that was slowly approaching him he began to cast.

"Ossus fragmento! Ossus fragmento! Incendio!" The spells struck true and the bear was soon roaring in pain as it lay on the ground with a smashed skull and it's fur starting to burn. It seemed cruel to not end its misery, but Harry had wasted enough time on the animal as is. He was losing any chance he had at controlling this duel like he had wanted. Deciding to by-pass any more magical attempts at using the wall to his advantage Harry began to run towards the edge of the wall fully intent on tackling his opponent if needed.

He dove around the corner and fired off a disarming charm only to watch with a sense of dread as it flew through an empty space. The laugh behind him alerted him to the immediate danger he was in right before the ropes bound his arms to his body. He had barely managed to hold onto his wand and he wasn't unconscious so the duel wasn't over, but if he didn't work fast it would be in a second or two. He managed to flip wand up so that it was facing the ropes. He wasn't looking forward to what he about to do, but it was the fastest option he could think of.

"Secar!" He winced as the spell cut the ropes easily but then continued to travel upwards right into his chest. It cut almost two inches deep and he was surprised he hadn't hit his lung. Not having time to appreciate the small miracle he dove out of the way of the stunning spell that had been aimed for him.

"Well that was certainly unorthodox, most people aren't willing to injure themselves just so they won't lose." Harry wasn't sure if she was complimenting him on his tactic or simply calling him crazy. He could ask her about it after the duel, but right now he needed to start gaining some ground.

Blood had dripped down onto his arm and hand making his grip on his wand start to slip. The girl had retreated behind her wall again and Harry could feel his frustration starting to mount. Another animal appeared this time it wasn't quite as dangerous as the bear, but the coyote that appeared was still going to prove to be a problem if it got a hold of him.

"Serpensortia! _Kill the dog! Keep it distracted while I go after the girl!" _The once cheering crowd was now deathly silent as they stared at him. Then the whispers began in a rush, eventually crescendo into a roar of amazement and horror.

Meanwhile Harry hadn't let the crowd's reaction keep him from his goal. The snake he had created was in the middle of constricting the coyote as the dog tried to claw its way out of the death squeeze. This time instead of rushing full long around the wall Harry cautiously approached it and then disillusioned himself. Thinking on his feet he cast a levitation charm at the animals that were still fighting. They were lifted into the air and then he viciously flung them around the corner of the wall. Just like last time the girl had come around to the same side as him as soon as she had seen something move around the corner. She barely blocked the stunner that Harry had shot at her. She was trying to retreat when a tripping jinx hit her in the ankles and she tumbled over backwards. While she was falling she managed to get off a disarming charm that Harry was unable to block. His wand slipped from his grasp and flew over his shoulder as he fell down. At that point his mind shut down. He wasn't in control anymore as he scrambled backwards for his wand and found it about ten feet behind him. He turned on spot only to find something colliding with his stomach knocking the wind out of him and causing him to lay flat on his back. The girl had charged him and knocked him to the ground. Apparently her survival instinct had taken over just like Harry's had. She had one of his wrists pinned down and was trying to pry his wand from his grasp. It only took Harry a moment to break her hold and get his wrist free. As he broke free of her grasp she looked up into his eyes and that's when he struck.

"Legilems!" The direct eye contact combined with the actual verbal spell put a lot of power behind his strike. The girl's shields never stood a chance as his mind probed shattered them. He wasn't looking for a memory at all, he had just needed a way to distract the girl long enough to get his wand positioned.

"Stupefy!" A red light erupted between the two duelists and the crowd went silent. No one had been able to see who had cast the spell because of the close proximity of the two.

Harry pushed up and the unconscious girl easily rolled off of him. She couldn't have been more than a hundred and ten pounds and the weight had been nothing for him with his adrenaline pumped state. Even after the girl was off of him he didn't move; he just laid there. The only sign that he was still alive was the rise and fall of his chest. He had never planned on brutally invading her mind like that, but he had no choice really if he wanted to win. A shadow fell over him as the referee moved in to determine a winner. It only took the man a moment before he declared Harry the victor. Once again the stands erupted in absolute chaos. This had been the most draining duel he had fought yet. Even though he hadn't sustained many physical injuries the slow bleeding from his chest had started to make him feel light headed. Combined with the amount of magic he used in his mind probe and he was on the verge of passing out right on the platform. With the little energy he had left he lifted himself up and raised his head high as he walked down the stairs towards the exit.

Normally he would have had a couple of days to recover and get ready for the next round of duels. But with only four competitors remaining the next set of duels was scheduled for the very next day. As soon as Harry had gotten back to the villa he had drank a blood replenishing potion and then collapsed on the couch. These prolonged duels took a toll on him and he didn't think he could do another one so soon after the amount of magic he had exerted today. Tomorrow's duel he planned on ending just as fast as the first one he had against the boy from Belgium. He wasn't going to even give his opponent a chance. There was a three day rest period between tomorrows duel and the final one. That was more than enough time to recover from a minor magical exhaustion. He wasn't going to delude himself into thinking that he wasn't going to have magical exhaustion after tomorrow, it was almost guaranteed. He was already asleep by the time Fleur had finished a short training session with Sirius. The girl smiled at the boy as she slipped into bed next to him.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Out of the way! Magical exhaustion case with multiple broken bones!" The mediwitch was screaming at any who dared get in her way. Working as a healer for a dueling competition she was used to seeing some pretty nasty injuries, but most of the time they came from the adult competition. The adults had a lot stronger magical cores and were fully mature; it wasn't as detrimental for them if they experienced slight magical exhaustion. This boy was only thirteen though and his exhaustion combined with the fractures was troubling. With no magic to help his healing process the bones wouldn't start to fix themselves like they normally would have. His duel had been hands down the most impressive one in the tournament so far. It had only lasted five minutes or so, but the pure amount of spells that had been exchanged between him and his opponent was amazing. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the whole duel was that despite the injuries and exhaustion the boy had won.

Sirius was watching as Fleur tore into his godson about how reckless he had been in his last duel. It was comical how similar the two looked right now to James and Lily when they were younger. They were always getting into some trouble at school, they were Marauders after all. Usually James would wind up in the hospital wing. Then Lily would find out he had done something stupid and cost Gryffindor more points and she would come charging into the hospital wing as soon as Madam Pomphrey would let her. She would stand there for what seemed like hours just berating James telling him how stupid he was and how he should really start to grow up. It made him chuckle every time because she would get so caught up in her tirade she never noticed James would get this dazed expression on his face. Sometimes Sirius would swear James got hurt on purpose just so she would come spend time with him. He had pursued Lily forever, even though he may have had a few girls on the side he was always trying to win Lily's heart.

Sirius sometimes wondered what had driven him to the dark. James and his family had treated him just like a brother and a son. It wasn't like he wasn't loved or grew up in a bad situation. His years before Hogwarts weren't even bad since his family hadn't disowned him until he got sorted into Gryffindor. That's when he had started living at the Potter's with James. He had even joined the Order of the Phoenix at the end of his Hogwarts career. Then something had changed, his mother had died and his brother had come to him with an offer. The Potter's had been a great surrogate family, but nothing would ever replace his actual family. The chance to be accepted again by his brother and his cousins was something he hadn't wanted to miss. He had switched sides, and then when he had found out he didn't have to be marked he had been even happier. He had thought that maybe there was a way he could still be friends with Lily, James, and Remus. For a while it looked like it was going to work out, but then Pettigrew had ruined everything. He would sometimes lay awake at night wondering what it would have been like if his friends were still alive. Would he have been able to face them every day knowing he had taken their son and raised him as his own? Or what if they found out it had been him; the looks of betrayal they would give him would have been devastating.

He shook his head to clear away those thoughts. It wouldn't do any good to dwell on memories and what ifs right now. He had Harry and was raising the boy to be a fine young man. He was powerful, polite, and charming. Yet the boy had a darker side to him where he would show no mercy and teach people not to try and harm him. He couldn't be any more proud of the boy for all he had accomplished this far in his life. Hell he was one duel away from winning the International Dueling Competition. He was only thirteen years old and about to be the world dueling champion for his age bracket. It was astounding really.

There were two days left before the duel and Harry wasn't yet fully recovered. Sirius had the villa's house elves go out and buy all of the necessary healing and replenishing potions to make sure that Harry wouldn't be at anything less than one hundred percent for his last fight. His opponent was going to be the current champion from the last tournament. The boy was 16 and it was his last chance to compete in the school bracket. His name was Archie Stalinvlad and he was from Russia. In last year's tournament the boy had dominated every round. There was simply no one that even posed a minor challenge to him. This year he had nearly lost twice, but had managed to scrape victories out both times. The boy was almost as stubborn as Harry. There would be no lying down and giving up in this duel.

The day before the final duel Harry was finally allowed out of his bed. He was currently watching as Fleur reviewed the four spells she had learned in the beginning. She was initially confused as to why Sirius had her practicing spells she had already learned but as she listened to his explanation any argument against it that she had died.

"With the dark arts you can learn a spell and get results a couple of times from it on that day that you learn it. However to truly understand the dark arts one must continue to practice those spells so as to not lose the feeling that it causes. If you were to go too long without casting a fire whip for example you might not be able to cast it at nearly the strength you had the last time you used it. The last thing anyone wants is to be trying to use a spell when they really need it and all that happens is a couple of sparks shoots from the tip of their wand."

True to what Sirius had said her spells were indeed weaker after only a few days of not using them. She was incredibly persistent though and she never got frustrated with lack of results. After about two hours of watching the two train Harry got up and walked out of the room to stretch his legs. No matter how much he tried to distract himself from the upcoming duel he couldn't do it for longer than twenty minutes. For the first time in the competition he was genuinely worried about his opponent. The boy was already the champion and he wouldn't give that up easily. He was from a country that held next to no restrictions on magic and most likely had a wide repertoire of spells to use.

Lost in his thoughts Harry barely registered as he walked out the back door onto the large deck. As he looked out over the lake he let his mind wonder at all that had happened in such a short time. He now had someone he could look at as a father figure, he had someone he could trust with his secrets, soon he would be the international dueling champion, and for once in his life Harry couldn't have been happier. Everything was perfect the way it was right now and he had absolutely no complaints about the way anything had turned out.

A hand coming down to rest on his shoulder broke his attention from his thoughts. He looked back to see Sirius moving forward to stand next to him. The man rested his arms on top of the railing that ran around the deck and for a while the two just stood in silence enjoying the comfortable environment. After about five minutes Sirius broke the silence.

"She's a real good girl Harry. I know in a way we set this up, but I don't think either of this can really say this turned out in a way that we didn't want it to. I don't know what your relationship with her is exactly, but I'm just glad that she makes you happy. You're a very powerful young man and in a few years you're going to have a lot of responsibility. That doesn't change the fact that you're still a kid for a couple more years and you need to enjoy your youth. So even if times start to get tough I want you to promise me that you won't give her up. It probably sounds weird coming from me, considering I've never had a stable relationship in my life, but I watched your father chase your mother for years. In the end his hard work paid off and the two wound up living happily together. I want the same thing for you, and I'm going to do my best to make sure you get to live a long and happy life."

The sudden confession and promise from his godfather caught Harry by surprise. It wasn't that his godfather cared that surprised him, but it was more just how right it felt. If only people could see this side of the death eaters. Because of what they did they were viewed as heartless murderers. That wasn't always the case though, especially in the more prominent members like Sirius, Lucius, Mr. Nott, etc...

"I promise." Was all Harry could think of to say. It was another fifteen minutes or so before Sirius said he was getting hungry so he was going inside to make some dinner. Harry told him he would be in soon, and then he was on his own on the porch.

The sun was about halfway gone behind the mountains of the area now, and it was getting dark slowly. Harry watched as the shadows seemed to creep along the ground. It was mesmerizing to watch the darkness slowly creep along until it engulfed more and more of the lighted areas. It was similar to what was happening in the wizarding world now. The dark was becoming strong; slowly they were spreading and soon would engulf everything in their blanket. Yet the next day would come and the light would have shone through the shadows again. It was an endless cycle that would repeat even long after he was gone.

As the sun almost vanished completely behind the mountains Harry finally made his way back into the villa. It had been relaxing to watch the sunset and just enjoy the quiet. It was a big difference from how his life had been recently. If he wasn't busy with the tournament then Fleur was around or he was training and he just didn't have a whole lot of alone time anymore. Harry gave Sirius a nod of thanks as he sat down at the counter and the man slid a plate of food to him.

"Fleur went home for a bit, since she hasn't seen her family a whole lot since she started training. She was really missing her little sister, but she said that she would be here early tomorrow morning so that she could give you some motivation before your duel." Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively as he said the last part causing Harry to just smile and shake his head. "So since it's just the two of us tonight, what do you say we kick back, open up a bottle of that Ogden's, listening to the wizarding wireless, and I'll tell you some stories from when I was in school?"

"Really? That sounds excellent! I'm just going to take a quick shower then I'll be right out." Harry was already halfway down the hall by the time he finished his sentence. It was about fifteen minutes later that Harry came back down the hall and into the living room. Sirius was already stretched out on the couch so Harry pulled one of the reclining chairs up in front of it and laid back. Sirius called for one of the elves once they were both comfortable and had it fetch them a bottle and two glasses. It came back with the drinks already poured and asked if there was anything else. Sirius thanked it and told the elf that was all for now.

"You ever had firewhiskey before Harry?" Upon seeing the boy's shake of the head he laughed, "This is going to burn going down the first few times, but after a while you won't feel it. Cheers!" He gulped his glass down and Harry tried to do the same, and managed to for the most part. It wasn't bad at first but as the liquid hit his throat it began to burn and he coughed and spluttered as he tried to get it out. Sirius was laughing as he watched his godson choke on his first glass of firewhiskey.

So the next few hours passed by with the two laughing and drinking while Sirius told tales from his time at school. The more they drank the more animated Sirius became in his story telling. At one point he was jumping from each piece of furniture in the room as he described dodging curse after curse from one his irate "girlfriends". Sometime after midnight Harry felt his eyelids suddenly become like lead weights. He slurred a goodnight to Sirius and stood up to leave the room. Sirius was calling him names and making fun of him for being a light weight as he stumbled down the hall to his room; he couldn't find it in him to care though as all he wanted right then was to collapse on the bed. Once he got into the room though he wound up tripping over some object and fell face first onto the floor. Luckily all of the floors in the villa had a cushioning charm on them. Not having the energy to get up Harry waved his hand and a blanket flew off his bed. He wrapped himself in it and was asleep before he knew it.

The next morning Fleur arrived through the floo a few hours before Harry would have to be at the stadium for the final duel. She had planned on having some alone time with Harry and giving him encouragement to win his duel, but all thoughts of that went out of her head when she caught sight of Sirius slumped down in his chair with a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand. She mentally groaned and hoped Harry hadn't gotten as wasted as Sirius. She did a quick scan of the living room and didn't see him, so that meant he was most likely in his room.

"Well that is a good sign at least he was coherent enough to make it to his room when he had stopped drinking." She barely held back her laughter when she saw the boy curled up on the floor next to his bed. The light from the hallway cut through the darkness of the room and landed squarely on his face. Harry immediately turned over in an attempt to get away from the light, but Fleur was not having it. She gave a flick of her wand and the curtains shot open to flood the room in the morning sun. A loud groan came from the body on the floor as Harry tried to hide himself under the blanket.

"S'make it stop pwease. The lights hurt my head." Came the muffled plea.

"I wish I could let you stay like this to teach you a lesson about getting so drunk, but you have a duel to win mister. So pull down the blankets so I can cure that hangover of yours. "Ever so slightly the blankets came down around his head and she pressed her wand to his temple and muttered the spell under her breath. Once she was done Harry let out a sigh of relief. He leaned up to try and kiss her, but she just wrinkled up her nose and shoved him back down.

"You are not kissing me with morning breath like that Mr. Potter! Now go take a shower and brush your teeth. I'll get the house elves to start breakfast and wake Sirius up."

About thirty minutes later Fleur, Harry, and Sirius were all sitting at the table eating breakfast. There wasn't much talk going on between them. Occasionally Sirius would read one of the articles from the paper aloud and they would discuss it for a minute or two. They finished eating and cleaning up with about an hour left until the start of the tournament. With nothing else to do the three decided to floo over early. Sirius and Fleur were hoping to get really good seats to watch Harry from, and Harry just didn't feel like being in the villa anymore.

As he stepped out onto the field he found it strange that he wasn't more nervous. This was the biggest duel of his life thus far, but instead of shaking and worrying about the outcome he found himself to be indifferent. If he won then it would just cement that he was more powerful than anyone else his age, but if he lost then he was still one of the most skilled duelists for his age and certainly the best from his school. His Godfather and Lucius had entered him in this to teach him restraint and tactics. He had already accomplished that goal, so no matter the outcome of this duel he was already a winner. All of that in mind he planned on emerging with a victory. There was a board with a countdown till the match started and Harry found himself gazing at it every couple of minutes. It currently read 32 minutes and 15 seconds until the first spell would be shot. Another seven minutes passed before Stalinvlad finally walked in. The boy entered much the same way Harry had. He stood tall, with his chest pushed out and a calm easy stride. The stands were almost filled now and Harry heard some Russian cheers along with a few wolf whistles as the stands took notice of the boy entering.

It was to be expected though; the boy was the current champion after all. Too Harry's surprise the boy came striding toward him about 10 minutes before they were set to begin. Harry was expecting some degrading comment or a taunt even. He figured the boy would try and knock him off his game so he braced himself mentally and locked down his emotions. However when the boy came up and began to speak in his broken English he was nothing but pleasant.

"I've com' to vish you luck 'Arry. I've vatched all ov your duels and am expecting this to ve a hard match." The boy held out his hand which Harry graciously accepted and told the boy he agreed and wished him the best of luck in the duel. Harry found it surprising that the only one to wish him luck was the one opponent that was supposed to be the most ruthless.

Finally the clock hit 1 minute and the two boys stood across from each other on the platform. The ref was in the middle explaining the rules even though everyone had heard them multiple times over by now. With 3 seconds left they executed a respectful bow to each other and then the spells flew. Stalinvlad was the first one to cast throwing a mixture of stinging, bone breaking, and tripping jinxes. They were all very minor spells and Harry was able to easily counter or dodge them. For the first few minutes that was how the duel went. The two of them seemed to be trading spells back and forth; it was almost like they were trying to feel out their opponent. Neither was willing to give in until an opportunity arose. Unfortunately for Harry he slipped up about five minutes in. He didn't quite step wide enough to avoid a tripping jinx and found himself momentarily falling forward. Had he just gone with the roll and then regained his footing he might have been okay, but he caught himself and looked up just in time to watch the reddish orange light of a reductor slam into his gut. The pain was immediate and he felt his organs crush as well as what sounded like a rib or two splintering.

"Protego Maximo!" He cast a stronger shield charm to give himself a moment to put a numbing charm on his injured abdomen and then was back on the move.

"Confringo! Reducto! Expulso!" The Russian boy went to shield himself from the spells thinking he was the target, only to be caught off guard when the first two spells slammed into the platform in front of him. The blasting curses threw large chunks of rock into the air while the banishing curse caused them to travel directly at Stalinvlad. He recovered quick enough to dodge most of the larger fragmentation, however some medium sized and smaller bits managed to embed themselves in his skin. One decent sized piece even caught him just below the eye leaving a nice black mark. Attempting to push his momentary advantage Harry shot three quick stunners at his opponent before moving out of the way of an incoming body bind.

A shield sprung to life in front of his opponent swallowing the stunners he had shot before it disappeared and once again Stalinvlad was hurling spells. He had stepped it up from the beginning of their duel now. Instead of just the basic spells and jinxes now he was hurling more complicated things. Most of the time Harry could barely understand what he was saying through his heavy accent. It made it infinitely harder to counter a spell when you couldn't hear the incantation. After a bone breaking curse flew centimeters wide of his wand arm Harry fired back with one of his own.

His vision was starting to get spotty and blurred as the duel progressed; that's when he realized he probably had some serious internal bleeding. He needed to end this duel fast before he passed out and not only lost but possibly did serious damage to himself. He dodged another series of spells from his opponent and started working on his plan.

"Aquamenti! Stupefy! Protego! Levicorpus!" The surge of water that erupted was aimed towards the hole in the platform and filled it almost to the brim. Stalinvlad dodged the stunner just like Harry had hoped, but to his dismay the boy was too quick with a wand and countered the Levicorpus before it could impact. His shield sprung to life in front of a cutting curse to save himself from further damage.

As he dodged a ball of fire his vision swam and he nearly fell to his knees as the pain in his abdomen intensified and started to break through the numbing charm. His opponent smirked at him as he realized what was happening and began his assault in a frenzy. He threw everything and anything towards Harry in an attempt to damage the boy more. Harry carefully shielded and side stepped waiting for an opportunity to present itself for him to end this. He didn't have to wait long as Stalinvlad seemed to be wearing down. The boy's assault slowed for a fraction of a second and Harry showed no mercy as he fired back.

"Incendio! Reducto! Secar! Secar! Incarcerous! Levicorpus! Accido!" Stalinvlad skillfully dodged the first two spells and countered the first cutter, but he wasn't fast enough for the second one and it caught him in the wrist. It severed his tendons making his hand go limp as he dropped his wand. The boy gasped in pain and tried to reach for his wand while dodging the ropes flying at him. He was successful in dodging only to find himself being flung into the air by his ankle.

Harry quickly moved his opponent over the pool of water before releasing the spell. As the boy fell into the water Harry aimed his wand ready to cast the last few spells to end this duel. The boy splashed into the water and just as Harry hoped he immediately popped back up.

"Conglacio!" Harry timed the spell just right as it collided with the water; ice quickly began to form trapping the boy and one of his arms. Harry smirked as he leveled his wand and fired off a stunner at the boy. He didn't get to have the satisfaction of watching his opponent fall unconscious though as a pain like nothing he'd ever felt erupted in his side and he fell to the ground gasping for air. He was finding it hard to breathe and his vision was filled with dots now. He began to cough and to his horror blood came out of his mouth. He couldn't hear what was going on around him, only the throbbing in his head from blood rushing to his ears. He ripped his shirt trying to get a better look at the damage that had been caused. He wished he hadn't though when he looked down and saw his whole abdomen was a discolored bluish-red shade and it seemed to be spreading. The last thing he remembered before the blackness took him away from the pain was a group of people rushing to him and then he felt his body jerk upward.

Harry opened his eyes to find himself staring into a void of darkness. For one fleeting moment he thought he might be blind, but then remembered he hadn't suffered any wounds to the face. As everything began to focus he noticed the slight twinkling in the sky.

"Stars? So am I inside my mind right now..? Usually I have to be meditating or focusing on coming here."

He gazed around him checking for anything that might be amiss with his shields, but couldn't find anything that would warrant investigation. It appeared that he had just slipped into here when he fell unconscious; or had something worse happened? That made bile rise up in his throat. What if the healers hadn't been able to get to him fast enough and he had died. Was this his afterlife now? Forever trapped in his own mind watching memories of his life. Forcing the bile in his throat back down he decided to try and leave his mind before he began to panic about what might have happened. Closing his eyes he focused on returning to the real world. It felt like waves were washing over his body as he was gently pulled forward. When he opened his eyes this time he wished he had been blind. The bright lights suspended above him caused him to look to the side. As his eyes started to adjust to the brightness of the room he carefully moved his head back the other way. To his surprise the room was empty except for one lone figure asleep in a chair.

Sirius was stretched out in what appeared to be a large reclining chair. His mouth was wide open because of the angle his head had fallen at and Harry had a wicked idea. Injured or not he would never pass up an opportunity to get one over on his godfather. Carefully he flicked his wrist levitating the glass of water that had been placed on the table next to his bed. He positioned himself in a believable way so he could pretend he was still asleep. Just as the glass got over his godfather's open mouth he tipped it so the water went rushing in. He shut his eyes and made sure to keep the smirk off his face as he pretended to still be out. He nearly lost his composure as his godfather sputtered and gasped for air. Sirius must have fallen out of the chair also as a thud was heard followed by more grumbling. As expected Sirius immediately started pointing fingers.

"Very funny Harry! I know it was you, you little prat. Go ahead and pretend to be asleep now, but I know you had something to do with this." He continued on for another minute or two before giving up on making Harry confess. "Even while he's unconscious he's pranking. If only we could have mastered that while we were at school the Marauders would have been ten times worse!"

An easy smile found its way onto Harry's face as he drifted back to sleep. The spell had taken more out of him than he thought. It wasn't until the next afternoon that Harry woke up again.

As Harry opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times to clear his vision it became apparent that he wasn't alone. There was a figure lazing against the wall next to the door. It took a few seconds but as his eyes re adjusted he was surprised to see the person was in fact Stalinvlad, the boy who had put him here. Upon seeing Harry move and his eyes focus on him Stalinvlad left his position on the wall and made his way to the bedside.

"I vished to congratulate you on da vonderful duel. It is customary in my culture to make sure von's opponent is okay after a friendly duel. It was never my intention to hurt you so severely. I had simply hoped da spell would cause you to falter so I could subdue you."

Harry was impressed and surprised by the boy's admission. Had the situations been reversed Harry doubted he would have stayed to tell his opponent he was sorry for their injuries. It appeared wizarding Russia had a much different approach as to customs than wizarding Britain. Nevertheless Harry accepted the boy's words and thanked him for his concern. They made small talk and jokes about the duel for a few more minutes before the door to Harry's room opened and Fleur stepped in. Stalinvlad excused himself and wished Harry to the best of luck in the future.

For her part Fleur remained patient and polite until the door behind her closed. Harry knew he was in trouble when she cast a silencing charm and locked the door. Well correction he thought he might be getting lucky when he saw her cast those spells. It was when he noticed the expression of anger on her face that he realized he was in trouble. Harry sat there and let her rant at him for a few minutes, but it was quickly grating on his nerves. She was yelling at him as if he had planned to end up here. He didn't even know what had happened to him for Merlin's sake!

"Fleur! Can you calm down for a second and stop yelling? I didn't want to end up here, I'm sorry you were worried but it wasn't my fault. I was not going to just back down and surrender a duel. It's not in my personality to just quit. I was going to see it through until the end and I'm glad I did. I won and that's all that matters. You need not worry though I will never be partaking in this again. This was a once in a life time opportunity for me. "Seeing that she had calmed down slightly he pushed to find out what was wrong with him.

"When the mediwitch brought you here everyone was in such a panic. You had lost so much blood already and she didn't know if you were going to make it. When the reductor caught you it broke some of your ribs and bruised your organs. Normally it would have been simple to fix, but with all the dodging and maneuvering you did the pieces of broken rib started to press against your organs and one managed to rupture your stomach. The acid mixed with the blood and started to do serious damage to your insides. We all assumed that was what caused you too collapse at the end of the match. Harry I'm so sorry for yelling, but you have to understand how scared we were."

As she finished Harry noticed that her eyes were shiny, probably from the tears she was holding back, and that she was shaking slightly. He opened his arms and she quickly moved into them to allow his embrace to comfort her. She sobbed quietly on his shoulder for a while, the whole time Harry just ran his hands through her hair and told her it was fine because he was okay now. He honestly couldn't fathom why she would be this worked up over him. He knew they were close and had enjoyed some more romantic moments together, but could he really mean this much to her?

As he lay there holding her he remembered what she had told him when they first met. She wasn't well like because of her veela heritage. She didn't have a whole lot of friends and for her to face almost losing one who she probably considered her best friend was likely very traumatic. He wished he could tell her that something like this would never happen again, but knowing what he did about how soon the dark lord would return, that wasn't likely to happen. Maybe not while he was in school if he was lucky, but once he graduated he would be thrown full force into the war and put in situations where he could be harmed or killed regularly.

For the first time Harry wondered if he had made a mistake in letting himself get attached to a girl. Was it fair for him to constantly put this stress and worry on her? Especially since there was no guarantee they would be on the same side of the war. She may enjoy learning the darker magics, but that didn't guarantee she would agree with the rest of what the dark lord hoped to accomplish. What would happen if they were ever to see one another on the battlefield and one was to get hurt? There was just so much that could go wrong with this friendship/relationship. Worrying needlessly would do no good now though. For the moment they didn't have to worry about any of that and they could enjoy their last few days together before Harry and Sirius returned to Britain for the Quidditch World Cup.

On his last day in France Harry didn't waste too much time on goodbyes. He would be seeing Fleur in a few months after all thanks to the tournament. As the portkey activated Harry and Sirius gave one last wave goodbye to the Delacours and Harry swore he saw Fleur blow a kiss at him. He smiled as he felt the tug behind his navel and then they were gone.

Too his surprise Harry didn't land in the living room of number 12 like he had thought. Instead he landed in what appeared to be a greeting area of some sort. There was a large fountain displaying a wizard alongside many different magical creatures as well as an entire wall of Floo travel fire places. People were constantly coming and going through them it seemed. Scanning around the area more Harry finally found a sign that told him where he was. Suspended in the air above a reception desk was a sign that read "WELCOME TO THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC".

Confused Harry turned to Sirius, "What are we doing here? I thought we were headed back to number 12 so that you could get ready for the Quidditch World Cup?"

"We are going back, but Lucius asked me to drop by and let him know when we returned. I figured we could do that before we got all settled in and then I had to leave again. You can wait here if you'd like, that way you don't have to go through the hassle of checking your wand in."

Harry wasn't too sure what Sirius meant by checking your wand in at first, but as he observed people going up to the desk he watched as the attendant sitting there made everyone going in produce their wand and then he cast a spell on it before handing it back. Harry assumed it was some sort of tracing spell that would allow the security to know if a disturbance was happening, but he couldn't be sure. Deciding he'd rather not have someone he didn't know casting things on his wand he told Sirius he would hang out and wait for him.

He watched his godfather go up and turn his wand over and then disappear into what look liked a magical elevator. It was similar to the one at Gringotts but it moved at a much slower and safer speed. Not sure how long it was going to be before Sirius returned Harry made his way towards the fountain and took a seat on the ledge around the pool of crystal clear water. Now that he was up close he could see there was a plaque located under the wizarding telling about the fountain. It said that it was meant to show cooperation between all magical creatures and wizards as well as equality. Harry snorted slightly as he read that. In comparison to the other statues the wizard was much larger and more detailed as well as placed up front. If anything the fountain showed the subservience that the ministry was trying to force the magical creatures into. The last line said that all money thrown into the fountain would be used as a donation towards St. Mungo's hospital.

Pulling out a galleon from his pocket Harry flipped it into the fountain while making a wish. He didn't really believe in making wishes, but the good karma that came from donating couldn't hurt to have. Not quite sure what else to do Harry passed the time by recalling different spells he'd learned over the summer. He made sure to always keep a watchful eye out though. It wouldn't be good to be caught unawares by some random wizard or witch. After all with so many fireplaces connected to the Floo network readily available this would be a prime location for a thief. On top of the easy getaway there was the chance of a wealthier ministry worker walking through making a bigger score for the thief.

If there was one thing he had learned from being in Slytherin it was that you could never let your guard down. Even when you were around people you trusted or in a "safe" area. There were just too many possibilities and what ifs that could occur. Luckily, nothing happened and in fact no one even approached him while he waited. It was only another ten minutes before he saw Sirius come walking out of an elevator talking to some witch. The woman was laughing at something he said and then to Harry's surprise she stopped and scribbled something on a piece of parchment she had in her bag and gave it to Sirius. He took the paper said something that made her laugh again and then walked towards Harry.

Not even giving his godson a chance Sirius spoke as soon as he was in hearing range. "That Harry is how you charm a lady. See this?" At this he held up the parchment," this is her address so I can come over for a "chat"." He wagged his eyebrows suggesting that chatting would be low on the priority's list.

Harry had a stroke of genius and before his godfather could react he had cast an Incendio on the parchment. It went up before his eyes. The gob smacked expression on Sirius's face would have had Harry rolling on the floor in laughter if he hadn't been so adept at the mind arts.

As it was he had a smirk on his face that would make any Slytherin proud, even Draco. Once Sirius recovered he pointed at Harry with an offended expression on his face.

"How dare you! I had to work hard for that parchment and in my old age I was lucky to snag such a fine young lady." At this Harry just rolled his eyes as they started walking towards the floo.

"You can't be serious. You're not that old anyway." Harry pointed out.

"Flattery only works on the ladies pup. And as a matter of fact…I am Sirius." With a barking laugh he stepped into the fireplace calling out number 12. Harry followed right behind him shaking his head at how childish his godfather was.

**Neville's POV**

He sat straight up in his bed breathing hard, with a cold sweat already dripping from his forehead. Silently he cursed into the night. He'd had the dream again. If one could even call it a dream. For some reason the past few nights he kept remembering his parent's murder in his sleep. He would be forced to watch as his mother begged for mercy and that she be taken instead. Voldemort just laughed though and then killed her without a second thought.

The first time he had this dream or nightmare really he had woke up in a panic and his grandmother had come in. Not wishing to disturb her and make her lose sleep as well the next night he had put a silencing spell on his room. It seemed to be the right idea since he had had the same nightmare three times already this week.

He knew he should probably tell someone, but he wasn't sure who. His friends wouldn't know what to do about it and he didn't want to have his Gran fussing over him. Maybe the headmaster would be able to help him. Yes that was it; Dumbledore would surely have an answer. Knowing he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep for the night Neville slid out of bed and sat down at his desk. He pulled out a parchment and a quill and began to write a letter telling Dumbledore what was happening and asking for help. About five minutes later he watched his owl take off into the night hoping that a response and solution would come soon.

**Dumbledore POV**

As he sat reading the letter he had received from the young Mr. Longbottom he couldn't help the frown off his face. First the boy had a vision where he was seeing through Voldemort's eyes and now he was reliving undoubtedly one of the dark lord's greatest accomplishments and worst mistakes. Being forced to relive his parents' death every night was surely taking its toll on the boy though and it just wouldn't due to have him start falling apart now when a gut feeling told him that Voldemort would not be gone much longer.

That was another issue all in itself though. If Tom was really able to return then how had he done it; how had the man anchored his soul to the plane of existence? He had a couple theories, but most of them were absurd and he wouldn't have believed them possible until the day that he heard of Ms. Granger being possessed. When he had called her into his office and asked her what she remembered about it he was expecting that the memory would be foggy or she wouldn't remember anything. It had come as a surprise then when she recounted quite vividly how it had happened. How she had found the diary and the promises it had made her. How she could slowly feel herself losing control of her body, but wasn't able to fight the pull of the diary.

This raised many questions in Dumbledore's mind. The most prominent one though was how many of these soul containers had Tom made, and was there one unknowingly made that now resided inside Mr. Longbottom. He could only speculate for now, but it would explain the strange connection the two seemed to share. Pushing all thoughts of it aside for now though, he started reading through the mound of paperwork on his desk in regards to the Triwizard tournament. He thought it would be good to promote cooperation between different nations, but there was still the threat of death from the competition which is why the Headmistress and Headmasters from the competing schools had decided on an age limit as well as various other safety measures which he was reviewing now. It promised to be an interesting year, and he just hoped they could make it through without the return of a madman.

**Malfoy Tent – Quidditch Cup**

A group of seven men sat in the study room that was inside the surprisingly spacious tent the Malfoy's were staying in for the duration of the Quidditch Cup. It had been a long time since any of them had been on a raid and tonight would be a chance for them to have a little fun. There was to be no killing tonight, there goal was not to cause a high death toll though it would be simple enough. They were to simply burn tents and cause a lot of chaos. All the idle chit chat and side conversations stopped as Lucius Malfoy walked in and shut the door behind him.

"Good evening gentleman. I dare say it has been a long time since we've all gathered like this preparing to do our Lord's work." As he paused he was met with a few cheers and yells of agreement. The excitement in the room was very clear. "This is a simple raid, we are not here to kill so there will be no green lights flying around." Here he looked pointedly at a man that could be recognized as an older version of Theodore Nott. The man simply smirked and nodded his head indicating for Lucius to continue. "Very well, through my contacts I have been able to obtain a rough copy of the camp layout and figure out who is staying where. This way we will not be attacking the tents of some of our own. I for one do not wish to see any harm come to my property and trust you all feel the same." More mutters of agreement could be heard. "Good now let's talk about assignments. Nott, you will take Macnair, Crabbe, and Goyle with you to the far side of the camp. From there you are to start setting fire to the tents and as people are running feel free to make explosions or hit them with minor curses to cause even more panic. I along with Mulciber and Barty will be having some fun with the muggles that live in the cabin here. During the Quidditch Cup before our strike Barty will be using the Imperius on an unsuspecting house elf. She will be used to steal her master's wand and then cast the dark mark high into the sky. When you see the mark that is the signal that you are to portkey away. Any questions?"

Everyone seemed to mull over the plan in their heads quickly, but none had an issue with it. Barty however did have one important question.

"What about Black, what is his role in this whole thing?" All eyes focused on Sirius who until now had quietly been leaning against the wall. He righted himself and turned to address the other men in the room.

"That is a good question Barty. You see, Dumbledore still does not quite trust me because of the way I was freed. He thinks it was one of you to do it and that would allow me to return to the dark lord. So tonight I will be confronting Nott's group. You will pick someone and capture them. I will rush in and duel with you eventually managing to fend you off and save this victim. Thus making me look like a hero and giving Dumbledore more reason to trust that I am light aligned."

The smirks around the room were full blown. It was well known among the smaller group that Sirius was one of their most valuable spies. Snape was good, but there was only so much he could do as a known double agent. No one knew Sirius had any connection to the death eaters though.

"Do you have anyone in particular for us to capture or should it be random?" Nott asked from across the room. He didn't care who it was but figured he should at least ask.

"As a matter of fact, you are to capture a student. We have arranged for Arthur Weasley to be invited to attend the Quidditch Cup with his family and a few personal friends. The Minister himself invited them. Along with the red headed family will be Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger. I do not care which of the children you take as long as no serious harm falls onto them. "

No more questions came up in the next minute so Lucius spoke up and captured the attention of everyone present. "Well now that the necessities are out of the way let us go back to our families and enjoy what promises to be one great match. My friends, may you eat, drink, gamble, and watch to your own content now. For in a few short hours we will once again be united under the mark of our lord doing his noble work." Cheers went up in the room as the men stood and begin to file out.

Once the men had all left Sirius shut the door again and then sat himself across from Lucius. The man had called a house elf while the others left and there were to glasses of bourbon poured out on a small tray floating in between them. Ever since Sirius had decided to become a spy this had become a ritual for the two men before a raid. While Sirius was never very active on the death eater side during a raid because of his position, he would often come in contact and be dueling against the other death eaters. Of course they couldn't go easy on each other, but never once would they fire a lethal spell. That didn't mean that accidents couldn't happen though and on more than one occasion Sirius had almost been hit with the green glow of a killing curse.

For a few moments the two men just sat regarding the other. It was strange really, they weren't related by blood, but the men felt a strong sense of kinship with each other after working so closely. He recalled the first time Lucius had called him to a meeting like this between the two of them.

_Flashback_

"_Lucius? Your house elf dropped by and said that you were requesting my presence." Sirius had been at home preparing to go out with the order since Severus had informed them of a death eater raid. _

"_Yes, please come in and have a seat this won't take long as I understand you need to get back so as to not arouse suspicion about yourself." Sirius did as Lucius suggested and sank into one of the comfy chairs. Once he did so Lucius began to talk again._

"_This may seem strange for one such as myself, who is regarded as cold-merciless killer, but I value my family more than anything. They mean everything to me and I fear what would happen to them if I were to meet with an unfortunate end. That is why I call you here. I would like to ask of you that if something were to happen to me that you would take Narcissa and Draco in with you. They will obviously be very wealthy, but if they were to live with you they would be protected from the ministry and its blasted aurors. I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to try something as well once I am gone. So I ask you now, would you do this favor of me if something were to happen?" _

_Sirius took a moment to look at the man in front of him and saw the truth and sincerity in his words. He found himself sub-consciously nodding and then he opened his mouth to speak._

"_Of course, Narcissa is my sister and I would never let anything happen to her. Draco is my cousin and again I would never let harm fall to him. However I find myself then asking you the same thing. If I was to meet an early end, and for whatever reason Harry is left without a family, since you know our lord has targeted them, then you take him in and raise him as a proper wizard."_

_Lucius readily accepted knowing that it was a likely scenario since the Potter Family had indeed been targeted by their lord for quite some time. The two men toasted with a glass of bourbon and then Sirius excused himself so he could get back to the order. They embraced in a short hug and then Sirius disappeared into the roaring flames of the floo._

_End Flashback_

Now though the two exchanged no words. They had made this promise to each other every time before a raid up until the supposed death of the dark lord. They raised their glasses and with a clink the men knew the promise was still good. The drained the drinks quickly then stood up as a house elf showed up to clear away the glasses. This type of thing wasn't entirely uncommon. There were numerous other death eaters who had promises similar to each other to take care of one another's family in a worst case scenario. Sirius imagined they were all off doing their own rituals of friendship and promise now.

Lucius cast a tempus and noticed that they only had twenty minutes before the start of the game so he suggested they gather up Narcissa and the boys and head up to the Minister's box. Sirius agreed and the two men walked out of the room together each deep in his own thoughts of what this night would mean for them.

**Outside the Malfoy Tent**

Harry and Draco had been told by their godfather and father respectively to go and explore while the men held a meeting with some of their other associates. The two weren't stupid and knew who the men were referring to. So they had not argued and instead had wandered off towards the vendors section around the stadium. To their immense surprise they ran into not only Theo, but also Blaise and Daphne. They had walked together for a while and each of them picked up a few souvenirs here and there while they conversed. When they noticed it was almost time for the game Blaise and Daphne had excused themselves saying they had to meet with their families to go to their seats. The group had all exchanged good byes promising to meet up in Diagon Alley before school so they could get their supplies. Shortly after Theo had said goodbye and wandered off to find his father as well. Not needing or wanting anything else Harry and Draco had started to walk back towards their tent.

It was then that they caught the sight of the signature Weasley hair. This time however it wasn't Ron, but a much taller older looking boy with an earring made of some type of tooth. When Harry subtlety pointed the boy out to Draco the boy had raised an eyebrow.

"He looks like a Weasley, but he dresses too nice. Those aren't the signature hand me down robes they always have." Harry had silently agreed, the boy was dressed way too nice to be a Weasley. They took too long in their assessing of him though as the boy suddenly turned to look at them. They knew they had been caught when he started to walk in their direction. Thinking quickly the boys held their ground waiting for the inevitable confrontation. It would look too suspicious if they were to run away now.

"Hello, can I help you with something?" The boy called out to them as he approached, he didn't seem angry just genuinely curious. Seeing no reason to pick a fight with someone who appeared to be a full grown and mature wizard Harry spoke before Draco could make a smart remark.

"No sorry about that, the earring through us off, never seen a wizard with one before." Harry had come up with the lie on spot, but it was at least partially true, he had never seen a wizard with an earring before. The older boy grinned at them.

"No worries I get that a lot. It's a little odd but I can't say I don't like it. Plus it's got a lot of useful protections on it, which in my line of work is something you can never have too many of. Oh, sorry about that my name is Bill Weasley." He stuck out his hand which Harry and Draco each shook," who are you two then you look to be about the same age as my younger brother Ron. He goes to Hogwarts you know him?"

The two boys did their best not to grimace not wanting to seem like they were insulting his brother. "I'm Harry Potter and this is Draco Malfoy. We know your brother yes he's in the same year as us. We don't get along too well though since he's in Gryffindor and we're Slytherins." Bill snorted at this and muttered something about stupid house rivalries under his breath. Harry found himself a little intrigued by the boy though and since he was open to talking figured he could at least gain a little information about the boy and his skills since undoubtedly someday he would be seeing this boy on the opposite side of the war. The Weasley's were an inherently light family; there wasn't a single one who had ever gone dark. "So you mentioned you work in a dangerous field, what is it you do exactly? Please don't take this the wrong way, but we actually debated whether or not you were a Weasley since you dressed…more appropriately." Harry caught a quick glimpse of annoyance flash across Bill's face as he mentioned they're monetary issues but it was gone just as soon as it showed up.

"I'm a curse-breaker for Gringotts now, the goblins pay me very well and with no family to support I can afford to spend a little bit on myself. I don't take what you said as an insult, it's well known after all that my family isn't very well off." Harry made a mental note of the name Bill Weasley and then curse breaker as it would come in handy to know. Curse breakers were very valuable to either side of the war as an experienced one could bring down some of the strongest wards in a matter of hours. Remembering they had been trying to get back to the tent Harry quickly said goodbye to the older boy and shook his hand again. He told Draco to follow him and the two headed back to their tent.

"Honestly Harry I don't know why you were so nice to him. The Weasley's are blood-traitors and even if that one is doing well for himself now that doesn't mean he's going to go against his own family or anything." Harry knew Draco despised anything even remotely Weasley related so this was no surprise to him.

"I know that Draco, but it is also useful to know things about people we could potentially be going against someday. Curse breakers are generally powerful wizards so now we would know not to underestimate him just because his brother is a blithering idiot." At this the two boys laughed and made a few more jokes at expense of the Weasleys before they reached their tent. Sirius, Lucius, and Narcissa were all standing outside looking at them expectantly.

Lucius was the first to speak, "I trust you two will have a good excuse for why you took so long to return, but for now let us be off to the top box. I heard it's going to be quite crowded this year and do not want to miss out on an opportunity to insult my favorite family." At once both boys knew he was talking about and were surprised to find out the Weasleys had somehow gotten into the top box.

As they walked Sirius fell into step next to Harry and slipped something into his pocket. Harry eyed him curiously for a second but did not make a sudden movement to alert anyone around.

"It's a portkey pup. The old gang is coming to have some fun tonight, when it starts you and Draco are to go into the forest and take the port key back to number 12. From there Draco can floo home or just spend the night. Either way I don't care just don't destroy the house while I'm gone. "Harry inclined his head a fraction to let Sirius know he had heard and understood what was said.

"Oh by the way I forgot I picked these up for you." Harry reached in his other pocket and pulled out a pair of omnioculars and a shrunk down calendar. When Sirius enlarged it his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Above every month there was a large picture of one of the Veela mascots for the Bulgarian team in some provocative position.

"Thanks Pup these are great!" The rest of the walk and ride up to the top box was filled with idle chatter and Sirius trying to get a rise out of Harry by comparing Fleur to some of the Veela in the calendar.

As it turned out the view from the top box was better than Harry had expected. He had the immense pleasure of watching almost the whole male population try and throw themselves onto the field when the Veela mascots for the Bulgarian team came out to dance. Shortly after that the quaffle was tossed into the air and the game began. Harry wasn't a big quidditch fan, but even he had to admit the Irish chasers were some of the best he had ever seen. Draco had been telling him about the teams as the game went on explaining that while the Irish had the best chasers, Bulgaria had Victor Krum. Krum was apparently the youngest and most skilled seeker in all of professional quidditch. About an hour into the game Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic had gotten up and pulled Neville Longbottom over towards a heavy set man in a thick fur coat. Harry for his part had known Longbottom was probably going to be there when he heard the Weasleys would be in the top box and had decided to just ignore him.

He couldn't however ignore what was happening now as Fudge tried to introduce the boy to the Bulgarian Minister. He could only hear part of the conversation, but from what Harry could gather Fudge was insulting the man because he thought he couldn't understand English. What amused Harry was the annoyed looked that crossed the Bulgarian man's face clearly showing that he knew what was being said. The man caught Harry eyeing him and then schooled his features back to an impressively passive mask. Harry just smirked and inclined his head slightly at the man before turning his attention back to the game.

Draco had noticed his friend not paying attention and then had asked Harry what he was doing. Harry briefly summed up what had happened and Draco laughed about what an idiot the minister was. When the score hit 140-0, in favor of the Irish, Krum suddenly took off like a rocket. He had spotted the snitch and was quickly closing in on it. It only took him a few seconds longer before the small golden ball was in his grasp, However when he looked at the bored the score was 170-150, the Irish had won. Loud cheers went up from all over the stadium. It seemed like everyone was happy regardless of the loss. The Bulgarians were chanting Krum even though they had lost.

The stands quickly emptied and the parties began down around the camp grounds. Many Irish banners could be seen floating around on their own through the sky. Harry for his part wasn't interested in celebrating and had opted to just go to bed early. With what was coming he probably wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight so it was better to get some when he could. It didn't take him long to fall asleep once he had laid down in the bed.

What felt like only a few minutes later, but turned out to be almost 3 hours he was woken from his sleep by the sounds of screams and stampeding feet. Instinctively he rolled out of his bed and got in a low position he relaxed upon seeing he was the only one in the room. He stepped out into the main room of the tent and saw Narcissa with Sirius and Draco.

"Hey pup, come on you and Draco need to get out of here. Mrs. Malfoy is going to stay and pack up the tent when it's over since Lucius won't be here. That way she can also cover saying that he had left to make sure Draco was alright." Harry nodded his head and he and Draco ran out of the front door and made their way quickly to the forest.

Once they were a safe distance off the stopped and turned around. They could see the fires burning high into the night. Then they noticed the figures in the air. Three people were suspended upside down somewhere in the middle of the camp. Not wanting to be spotted just casually observing Harry cast a notice-me-not charm around their area. He knew they couldn't stay long as they had to get back before the adults but that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy the show a few minutes more. Luck seemed to be on their side though as a group was running in their direction. Harry instantly recognized Longbottom, Weasley, and surprisingly Granger. He hadn't noticed her in the top box, but he supposed he wasn't really looking for her either. Then again it was entirely possible she just sat in the tent while the game went on. Deciding to have a little fun, he poked Draco and motioned for him to watch. As the group got nearer Harry silently cast a tripping jinx at Granger. She had no chance as the girl fell at an awkward angle and whimpered when she crashed into the ground.

"Hermione!" Longbottom turned around trying to help her get up. It was then that Harry noticed the second group running in their direction. Clad in black robes and white masks Harry easily recognized the group of death eaters. Moving out of the way he stepped back to watch the scene that was about to unfold. Longbottom didn't see them coming and Weasley had apparently just kept running. Not wanting to risk exposure by staying any longer Harry pulled the portkey from his pocket and told Draco to grab hold. The last thing the two saw before the tug behind their navel carried them away was a blasting hex collide with Longbottom throwing him into a tree five meters away.

The next morning Harry woke up and went about his usual routine. Draco had decided to go home wanting to make sure his parents arrived safely. Harry had told him he would be in contact soon so they could set a day for them to get their school supplies and catch up with all their friends. Now that he and his owl got along he had taken to leaving his window open slightly so that Hedwig could come and go as she pleased throughout the night. This morning however he noticed she had what appeared to be a daily prophet tied to her leg. He had never signed up for the newspaper so he wasn't sure why he would be getting a copy. Carefully examining it before he touched it, he used his wand to untie it from the bird and then with a twist the paper unraveled itself.

His jaw dropped in shock when he saw the cover story. A picture of Sirius dueling four death eaters was on the front. The title read "Sirius Black, from criminal to hero". He couldn't believe it. After everything his godfather had told him about being loyal to the dark, there had to be some mistake here. Fully intending on finding out what the hell had really happened Harry grabbed the paper and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. He received another surprise when he saw Snape sitting at the table with Sirius and the two were laughing.

"What the hell is this?" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself.

Snape eyed him amusedly,"Tsk Tsk Potter, do you really become so…Gryffindorish over the summer? Perhaps I need to assign more homework." Sirius laughed at this which just pissed Harry off more.

"Calm down Harry, its all part of the plan. You know Dumbledore didn't fully trust me, but after last night I'm well on my way to being in the man's good graces again. Especially after the group I saved turned out to be his golden boy and some mudblood friend of his. I think you mentioned her as the one that was possessed."

As Harry processed this new information it all suddenly made sense. He was right when he said Dumbledore didn't trust his godfather at all. But now the man would have to admit that Sirius was at the very least a good guy. That didn't however explain why Snape was here and threatening him with homework.

As if sensing the question that was to come his professor and head of house spoke up, "The headmaster sent me here to ask Mr. Black to come meet with him to discuss the events of last night. It seems the plan worked, but obviously the headmaster wants to hear you say it yourself."

All his questions answered for the time being Harry settled into a seat at the table and helped himself to some breakfast.

The next few weeks passed by very quickly between the time Harry spent training and practicing the dark arts with Sirius or writing letter to his friends trying to plan when they would all be going to Diagon Alley. He had already told everyone there wouldn't be anything big for his birthday this year. Sirius had invited them all over and they had cake and gave Harry his presents. He knew it was a false hope, but that didn't stop the disappointment when Fleur didn't show up. It was just simply too far for one to travel for one day. So his birthday came and went without much ado and fuss which he was thankful for. Compared to Draco he liked to think of himself as more contained and not needing a large celebration for a party. His few close friends and what he now dubbed his extended family consisting of the Malfoys and Sirius were all he needed to celebrate.

August was about half way over when they finally met to go to Diagon Alley. As expected because they waited so late the alley was packed with families scurrying around. In past years Harry sub-consciously noted muggleborn families standing around looking scared and clueless, but this year he found it much easier to recognize them. The sheer amount of them seemed to be disturbing. Had there really been that many when he was a first year? He voiced his questions to his friends and they talked about it for a bit concluding that there definitely had not been this many during there year. The group was still missing some of his friends. Pansy and Millicent were both still on vacation with their families like they tended to do every summer, and Theo had been called in to work at the book store today by his father since it was likely going to be busy. That left them with Draco, Tracey, Blaise, Daphne, and himself to wander around and gather their supplies.

As they walked and talked everyone noticed their group had matured quite a lot. Gone was their need to always look for someone to mess with and make fun of. Sure every now and then it would be fun if given the chance, but to go out of the way and look for a fight was too bold for them now. They were refined and cunning, not bold and stupid. Instead of the nonsense talk they'd had about games or gossip now they talked about their studies and things they had heard from their parents about politics. In a way it was sad as it was almost like the ending of their childhood, but at the same time it was exciting to know they were approaching adult hood and becoming full-fledged witches and wizards.

Even the order in which their group walked showed a form of hierarchy among them. Harry enjoyed being in charge and leading, but not in a political sense. He let Draco walk slightly ahead of him and it gave the blonde the impression of being the leader. It was good for Draco's confidence and he really did know a lot about the laws and way the society worked. He would undoubtedly make a good politician someday, possibly even Minister. Harry for his part walked next to Tracey. They hadn't gotten to see each other like they had the previous summer or even all throughout the year, but neither seemed to mind. They were still comfortable with each other and would trade friendly jibes back and forth as they walked. Blaise and Daphne would do the same as they walked to the left of Harry and Tracey. Their hands intertwined being the only sign that the two were together. Purebloods and Slytherins especially were very against overt shows of affection in public. All it did was show someone that they could use someone against you. Affection was best kept inside the privacy of your own homes.

The group had gotten most of their shopping done by around two in the afternoon and had decided to grab some ice cream before heading back. Harry had suggested they get it to go and bring one to Theo so that he didn't feel completely left out. The group had agreed and was now wandering down Knockturn Alley towards the Nott's book store.

When they walked in they were surprised to see how many people were inside. Not only dark families either, they recognized some of the students from different houses at Hogwarts. There were a couple of older Ravenclaws in one corner looking at what appeared to be ancient runes tomes. Even a few Hufflepuffs were present. It came as a shock since Knockturn was regarded as a place for dark wizards and creatures to hang out. It was also nice to know that not everyone believed that apparently.

While it was true that the alley was filled with a multitude of dark wizards and creatures there were also a lot of very reputable stores. It was simply cheaper to rent a shop here than on the main alley. It helped families who were just getting into businesses increase profit.

Theo had thanked them for bringing him the ice cream, but told them he didn't have any time to chat as he gestured around to all the customers. They told him that was fine and they lingered for a bit to look at a few books that caught their eye before departing for the Leaky Cauldron. All in all the day had gone rather smoothly and without a hitch. A couple of times they had seen Weasley and Longbottom but they simply changed direction and avoided the two so as to not cause a scene. Everyone said their goodbyes and one by one stepped through the floo. Tracey gave him a peck on the cheek before stepping through and waving goodbye. He was the last one to go through the floo and he left the required amount of money on the mantle next to the floo pot before grabbing a pinch and disappearing in a swirl of emerald flames.

The morning of September first came and found Harry and Sirius making their way to King's Cross. Like last year Harry taken to casting only light based spells for the past few days to clear most of the dark taint from his aura. Hopefully it would help him if he were to encounter the phoenix this year, but he was going to avoid that if at all possible. As they stepped through the barrier Harry called for one his elves, Lucy, to come and take his bags to a compartment on the train and not leave until he got there. The elf agreed quickly and bowed to her master before disappearing with a pop. Sirius gestured for Harry to follow him and the boy did. The two stood off to the outside away from the few other families that had gotten to the station early.

"Listen Harry there are plans for this tournament. I can't tell you exactly what as it would put you at a risk. However you will play a critical role. When the time comes you are to ensure that the fourth champion in the tournament wins. Do you understand? You aren't to help him directly; you will need to use that Slytherin cunning to find ways or leave clues that will help him complete each task."

The information sank in and Harry was about to agree when something Sirius said registered, "Wait Sirius there are only supposed to be three champions."

Sirius smirked and shook his head, "Don't worry about that, just remember don't let anyone know what you're doing. Not even your friends can know about this. It is vitally important you make sure the fourth champion wins."

Sensing he would get no further information from Sirius he agreed and gave the man a hug before telling him he would be home for Christmas. Harry made his way onto the train and found his compartment. He thanked Lucy before dismissing her back to the manor where his elves now currently resided. As he settled in and relaxed he couldn't help but think about all that he'd learned. The tournament was going to be fixed, so that a certain person would win, it was vital that he not be discovered helping that person cheat, and to top it all off he had no idea why. He trusted his godfather though and knew this probably had something to do with the potion that was being brewed at this very moment. He would carry out this task and prove that he could handle things that were appointed to him.

Content with his decision he pulled out a letter and began to read it while he waited for his friends to show up. A small smile played across his features as he read the letter Fleur had sent him this morning. It explained that they were already getting ready to leave and would be at Hogwarts within the week. Looking out the window as he tucked the letter away he watched the crowds of families pour into the station. His eyes locked on one figure in particular though. Longbottom was currently saying good bye to his grandmother and seemingly oblivious to Harry observing him. It was then that Harry realized who the fourth champion was going to be. He was pulled from his thoughts as his cabin door opened and his friends walked in. They began talking about their schedules and classes and after a while Harry drifted to sleep against the window thinking about just what an interesting year he was going to have.


	22. Chapter 22

Two days into the new school year and Harry was already back to his normal routine. He would go to his classes, go to meals, talk with his friends for a little while, but then he was gone. He would go to his room and throw himself into his homework and extra studies. For the most part he didn't have any difficulty in his classes. The only exceptions were Runes and Arithmancy. The concepts they were learning this year had him intrigued because they would present a challenge of sorts. In Runes they were learning how to carefully weave together multiple runes to create a singular rune with the properties of the original ones. It was a very delicate process because one wrong line could turn something as innocent as a locking rune into a rune that would slice your hand off if activated. Although it was harder than normal, thanks to his skills in occlumency he was also able to sink into his mind and recall things from class if he was having trouble. Having an organized mind was really one of the biggest advantages anyone could have; knowledge equaled power after all. Well that wasn't entirely true; knowledge and the will to push your limits was the key to power.

Arithmancy wasn't nearly as complicated as runes, but the formulas and topics they were discussing already were quite advanced and very in depth. There was a lot of subject matter to be covered and the amount of work that came with it was equivalent. Harry let out a sigh as he re-read his essay on the magical properties of numbers. He had been working on it for two hours already and he still wasn't sure it covered enough of what they'd learned in the lesson. At the rate he was going it looked like he wasn't going to have a whole lot of relaxing time this year, but if it meant he would remain top in everything then it was well worth it. The only times he truly let himself take a break was when he received a letter from Fleur. They had been using his house elf to communicate since he'd gotten back to school. Apparently Beauxbaxtons was already preparing to leave by the end of the week. That meant only five more days until they would be together again.

That was another issue though. Harry had taken some time to think about it and if he and Fleur were instantly friendly it might raise some suspicion. Sure he had been to France for the tournament, but as far as most people knew he hadn't gone out and spent much time around. It was a dilemma which was easily solved, but it wasn't his favorite choice. They would simply have to pretend they didn't know each other. They would spend the first few days not hanging out, but then they would bump into each other in the hall and strike up a friendship of sorts. After all the whole point of this tournament was supposed to be to encourage relationships with students from other schools. It was a simple plan, but it would work.

Having become side tracked by his thoughts Harry decided he had enough of writing essays. What he had would certainly be adequate to get him top marks, and he could always go back and review it if he found he needed more knowledge of the subject someday. With a quick tempus he checked the time; tonight he had a meeting with Snape to discuss some of the things that would be happening this year. He had almost forty-five minutes before he had to be there, but having nothing more to occupy his time decided to show up a little early. He quickly gathered up his things and then checked to make sure it was clear before exiting the room. It was a short walk to the door of the Potions' room. As always he knocked before entering in case his head of house was busy and could not be disturbed. After a few moments he heard a muffled "enter" from the other side.

As he walked into the dimly lit class room Harry was only slightly surprised to see a young Hufflepuff in detention. The kid looked like he was a first year and at the most a young second year. Professor Snape was sitting behind his desk flipping through a stack of papers. As Harry approached he could hear the man mumbling under his breath about how stupid this year's class was. He laughed slightly and thanked God he wasn't on Snape's bad side. The little Hufflepuff quickly scampered out of Harry's way as he walked down the aisle. The boy looked almost terrified of him. Harry stopped and looked at the boy with a frown. He hadn't ever met the kid before yet he seemed to be ready to wet himself just by being so close to him.

"What's wrong; why do you look like I'm about to turn around and chop you up for potions ingredients?" Harry questioned the boy.

"You…you're…Harry Potter." The boy stuttered out nervously.

This just confused Harry more, yeah he was top in his year, but that didn't seem like a valid enough reason for this first year to know him. "What about it? I'm just another student, as long as you don't annoy me I'm not going to mess with you. I have better things to do now than bothersome first years. If it had been last year then maybe we'd be having a different conversation." Harry smirked at the boy.

Seeming to gain a little courage from Harry's statement the boy spoke without a stutter, "I heard some older students talking about how you were an evil Slytherin. They said you liked to hurt people and show off all the time. They also said you don't like muggleborns like me." The boy looked down as he said the last part afraid to meet Harry's eyes.

Harry's facial expression hardened; how dare someone go around talking like they knew him. If this be was a muggleborn then he certainly had no love for him, but that didn't mean he would be outwardly mean to someone so young. Especially not when he had plenty of mudbloods in his own year he could harass. "I don't know who you heard all of that from, but don't worry I don't go around cursing every person I don't like. I'm a Slytherin after all, we have tact and décor. We aren't a bunch of rash Gryffindors who can't control their own emotions or keep their opinions to themselves. So does that make you feel better?"

The boy nodded slightly, "It was Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley I heard. I was trying to meet the boy-who-lived but he said he was too busy to talk to me."

For his part Harry just laughed at that, "Don't trust anything those two say about me. They are jealous that I am top of our year and continually beat them at everything."

"Oh…I didn't know that… would, would you be able to help me study then? I want to do well but it's just so over whelming already and some teachers (he glanced nervously at Snape) make me really nervous."

Harry just shook his head, "Sorry I don't tutor anyone. I have way too much on my plate as is. I work very hard and barely have time to see my own friends; I can't spend that time working to help other's study." Seeing the dejected look on the boy's face Harry had a brilliant idea, "Tomorrow though, go to Gryffindor table and look for a bushy-haired bucktooth girl. Her name is Granger and she would LOVE to help you study. She's a muggleborn herself." Harry saw the boy's eyes light up with a new hope, but before he could say anything else professor Snape cut in.

"Well Mr. Jones it would seem my best student has saved you from adequately cleaning the room tonight. You won't be so lucky next time you have detention though. Go now and I expect you to not brew so horribly in the future."

The boy squeaked out a quick "Yes sir" and hastily left the room. Once the door slid closed Harry sent a locking and silencing charm on the door. Professor Snape added his own privacy ward as well. With the charms in place they would be safe to discuss what they needed to.

"Mr. Potter I didn't realize you thought so highly of Miss Granger." Snape said sarcastically.

"I don't but if she starts tutoring people that's less time she will have to spend studying which will result in hers and most likely Longbottom's grades dropping. The boy may have some competency with practical portions but I am willing to bet Granger is responsible for a significant portion of his written homework."

Snape smirked at the boy in front of him. It was truly a Slytherin plan, to sabotage ones competition by using their own kindness against them. Granger would never turn down another muggleborn student asking for help. "Very well, I think 15 points to Slytherin for your use of cunning is in order then. But now let us get onto the more serious matters."

"I'm sure you godfather has made you aware of some of the plans that are being set into motion this year."

"Yes sir, he also told me about the part I am to play in the tournament. I must admit it will truly be a test of my resourcefulness and cunning. I will not fail and it should keep the year entertaining. However it would be significantly easier if I had some sort of knowledge of what the tasks were going to be. I don't suppose they have decided that yet though?" Harry was genuinely curious as he wasn't sure how far in advance the tasks for the tournament were decided.

"You would be correct in your assumption. The tasks will not be decided until the two schools arrive and the Goblet is lit allowing people to enter their names. During the time that students are entering the judges will decide the tasks."

Harry nodded his head to show he understood and waited patiently for his head of house to continue.

"Now, let's get onto the other topics I wished to discuss with you tonight. I know we have discussed your mind shields before, and you had said that some of the concepts were getting over your head. I think this year instead of teaching you more spells, as I'm sure your godfather has that well covered, we will spend the year advancing you in occlumency and legilimency. If we work all year on this I suspect that by the start of next year you could have almost mastered that art of shielding and be passable in reading minds." Snape paused to let this information sink in before he continued; "Now undoubtedly you've noticed your new defense teacher is…not all there."

At this point Harry smirked and remembered the lesson he had with Professor "Mad-Eye" Moody the day before. The man was certainly off his rocker. He stood at around six foot tall and was slightly rounded but not overweight. His most distinctive features were the scars he'd obtained from the first war though. Most noticeably was the blue magical eye in his head that seemed to never stop swiveling around, it unnerved most of the class. His nose was almost missing a portion; Harry suspected it was the same spell that had stolen his eye that caused that bit of damage. He also had a peg leg that, instead of causing a solid clunk whenever he stepped, made no noise at all. The features hadn't been what had really intrigued Harry though, it was what the man had said and promised.

He had told them their curriculum and goals for the year. During their next lesson they were going to be learning about the Unforgivables. It was strange really, Dumbledore was the scion of the light side yet he was letting a man come in and teach students about the darkest curses (according to the Ministry). Something was off about the man and Harry knew it, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy some worthwhile lessons.

"Not at all sir, I think Professor Moody is quite sane, I mean just yesterday he told us we'll be learning about the Unforgivables." Harry had a full blown smirk on his face and his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

To his credit Snape just stared back, "I think one point from Slytherin for your delightfully sarcastic tone Mr. Potter. Just because the man seems mad doesn't mean you should relax in his presence. He was the most skilled Auror in the first war and even the dark lord held respect for the man. Also his magical eye has the ability to see through most walls and materials. So just be aware of that in case you were so inclined to bring books other than those on the school list in your bag."

The only sign that Harry was surprised was the slight dilating of his pupils. _He could see through walls and bags? Well he would definitely have to be extra careful around Moody this year._

"Thank you for the warning sir. Is there anything else for tonight or may I return to the common room? I'm assuming my friends are going crazy since I disappeared earlier today and have yet to return." Snape waved him away as a sign to go, but called out a reminder of the essay he had assigned right as the door closed behind Harry.

Harry had just finished eating lunch the next day and was preparing to grab his book and get some studying done before transfiguration when a hand on his arm drew his attention. He looked to his left and saw Tracey staring at him with a question on her lips. He made a motion telling her to stop before speaking.

"Come on, we can go talk before class we've got almost an hour and a half to kill anyway. We'll see you guys in Transfiguration." Harry grabbed his bag and motioned for Tracey to follow him, which she did quickly. Once they were outside the Great Hall and heading up the staircase Harry spoke again.

"So what did you want to talk about Tracey?" He was curious really. He was silently hoping it wasn't about their intimate encounters. He knew he needed to talk to her about it, but just couldn't find a right way or time. Ever since he had spent time with Fleur during the summer he had known on some level he was going to have to stop messing around with Tracey. He enjoyed it and she was a great friend, but there was a chance for something serious with Fleur and he didn't want to mess it up by fooling around with another girl, especially not when Fleur was going to be in the same castle for a year.

"Nothing in particular I guess, it's just we haven't spent much time together. We didn't really see each other during the summer, congratulations on winning the tournament by the way, and you're always so busy studying I was just hoping we could catch up, ya know?"

Not that he would ever admit it, but Harry felt slightly guilty since she was right. He had neglected to spend time with her starting towards the end of last year. He had just been so busy and couldn't handle any distractions. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I guess it's mostly my fault since I'm always studying, but hey we're hanging out now. So tell me about your summer."

Tracey had a genuine smile at the question, something that was rare on a Slytherin's face. Normally they smirked or had a fake smile in place, but this one reached all the way to her eyes. For the next fifteen minutes while they walked to the classroom Tracey described her summer with her parents and how they had told her this year if she finished in the top 5 for her year they would take her to vacation in Italy.

Harry didn't interrupt once; he just enjoyed listening to Tracey talk and be happy. It was something that they were rarely afforded the chance to do so openly after all. She finished up just as they reached the classroom. Harry checked the door and found that like usual it was open already. The two walked inside and took their seats towards the back of the class.

"So champ, tell me about your summer? Was the tournament awesome? Did you get to see your mystery girl like you wanted? What else did you do?"

Harry laughed and shook his head at the barrage of questions that came out, but answered nonetheless. "Well my summer was definitely one of the best. The tournament was a real eye opener about not only me, but what other people learn in their countries. England really limits us and puts us at a disadvantage. If I had thought about it, I should have thrown the tournament to make a point and demand that the Ministry let us learn more in school. I had a couple of close calls though; one duel left me with a serious magical exhaustion case and then in the last one my stomach ruptured and I almost bled to death internally." The look of horror on Tracey's face had Harry quickly scrambling to assure her he was fine now before continuing. "So you're still interested in the other girl? Damn Trace, if I had known you were going to be so jealous I would have never told you about her." He had to dodge a playful swat as she glared at him, "I'm kidding, but yes I did get to spend quite a bit of time with her. She wound up staying with my Godfather and me. After the tournament was all done we spent a couple of days just relaxing before heading back to England. Then Mr. Malfoy surprised us with tickets to the Quidditch World Cup. That was really it though. Nothing major or exciting happened for the rest of the summer."

"Well your summer was so much more exciting than mine Harry. I wonder why Dumbledore hasn't brought up you winning the tournament. It seems like news that big he would be happy to share."

Harry hadn't really thought about that, but guessed she was probably right. Something like a student winning an international dueling tournament could only bring good publicity to the school. Perhaps the man was just waiting for the end of the week though.

"Anyway I'm sure the man has his own twisted reasons. More important issues, like when are you going to tell me who this girl is? Since she's from France does she go to Beauxbaxtons? Come on you got to give me something to work with here."

Harry rolled his eyes at her, "Fine, yes she does attend Beauxbaxtons and will be coming here for the tournament." Harry realized what he said instantly and hoped that Tracey missed it. Luck was not to be on his side though.

"What tournament Harry?" Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him suspiciously.

"Hell, you can't tell anyone this. Hogwarts is going to be hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament this year. I suspect Dumbledore will announce it today or tomorrow since the schools will be here on Saturday or Sunday. Durmstrang and Beauxbaxtons are competing and they're staying here for the entire year. The only reason I even know this is because Mr. Malfoy is on the board of governors for the school. He told Draco and me about it during the summer."

Tracey looked at him for a few moments to try and see if he was lying but she eventually she spoke, "So I really will get to see how much you downgraded then, huh? Now no more of this I don't care about some stupid tournament, let the Gryffindors be the glory seekers. You're going to help me prepare for this transfiguration lesson since you know how horrible I am."

It was about half an hour later that the rest of their friends and the Gryffindors started to file in. McGonagall walked in about a minute before the bell rang. Surprisingly everyone was on time. Normally there was at least one straggler to class.

"Well welcome back for your fourth year at Hogwarts. By now you all know the rules and what I expect in my class. This entire year will be dedicated to learning to change one animal into another. We will start relatively small changing a guinea fowl into a guinea pig; by the end of the year though I will have you turning mice into dogs and full grown tortoises. If you'll open your books and follow along while I read the theory behind it now."

Harry zoned out as she continued to read about the concept and how the change was done. It was incredibly similar to the animagus transformation except now he was performing the change on another thing instead of himself. That was something else he'd neglected, he hadn't changed into his animagus form since about mid-summer when he and Sirius had gone for an evening run together. Perhaps tonight he would be able to sneak out and adventure around the grounds. Being in his fox form was so much simpler and it was very calming. There wasn't too much a fox had to worry about after all, so he could really just take the time and enjoy running across the grounds and letting the warm evening air hit him in the face. A sharp poke in his ribs brought him back out of his thoughts for the evening. He made to glare at Tracey for ruining his planning when he noticed the rest of the class was looking at him as well.

It was clear that he had been caught zoning out, but instead of calling him out on it McGonagall merely asked for him to stay after class. He silently appreciated the gesture since it allowed him to avoid giving Longbottom and Weasley something else to harass him about.

Careful to make sure he didn't zone out too much again he let his thoughts partially wonder to Longbottom. It had been almost a whole week and yet the boy hadn't said one thing to him to try and start a confrontation. A couple times in passing it had looked like Weasley was about to open his mouth, but the boy would be shushed by either Granger or Longbottom.

There were a few reasons that Harry could think of this happening; the first was that obviously Longbottom had heard of him winning the dueling tournament and was trying to prevent himself and his friend from getting hurt. Harry would have liked to believe that was it but knew the chances of Gryffindors using caution to avoid danger was slim to none. The more likely was that Dumbledore had advanced Longbottom's occlumency training and now the boy had a good grasp on his emotions. That combined with the workload the boy most likely had and there was very little time for petty school rivalries. Harry was sure it wouldn't last all year though; the boy was just too damn arrogant to go a whole year without starting a fight with Harry and his friends.

It seemed that the lecture portion of class was finally over since there was no a cage of guinea fowls on the desk. McGonagall waved her wand and the cage door opened and one floated to each person in the room. Harry looked at his for a few moments; he presumed it was charmed to remain calm since it wasn't trying to get away. They were told not to be discouraged by lack of results in this class since this was a complex field. Harry mentally snorted at that, transfiguration was indeed some of the hardest magic out there, but only for those who lacked a clear mental picture of what they were trying to accomplish. He skimmed through his book looking for a picture of a guinea pig to study since he hadn't ever seen one before. It took him a few minutes but eventually he found a picture of a furry plump thing. The picture lacked a lot of detail but there was still enough to make the change.

He passed his book to Tracey so she could get a picture of the animal in her head to. Then he pulled out his wand and closed his eyes. He focused on the picture of the guinea fowl in his mind and then focused on working it into the image of the guinea pig he had seen. The full change would not take a whole lot of work admittedly. The two creatures were very similar which is why it was probably picked for the first lesson. He opened his eyes and waved his wand over the guinea fowl while making sure to keep the image of a guinea pig fresh in his mind.

"Adfectio figura" Harry spoke the words quietly and then watched as his animal began to change. After about fifteen seconds the change was completely done and now instead of a guinea fowl there was a guinea pig that looked exactly like the one in the book on his desk. The only person who had noticed his success was Tracey since she was sitting right next to him. Deciding to entertain himself while he was waiting for McGonagall to come around and notice he began to change one of his spare quills into a miniature Slytherin flag. Taking two ends of it he proceeded to tie it around the guinea pigs neck and then let it drape down the animal's back like a cape.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tracey smirking at him for his little display. "Well done Harry, now would you mind helping me out here? I can't even get the thing's leg to change." Harry sighed at his friend's clear lack of skill in the field and began to coach her through it. Five minutes later McGonagall had finally made it to the back where they were sitting. Tracey had just managed to change the leg so that it resembled the one depicted in the book.

"Well done Ms. Davis! Take 5 points for Slytherin for being the first in the class to get a change…" She stopped in mid-sentence when she noticed the guinea pig on Harry's desk. It was now running after the tip of Harry's wand which had a dim light coming from it. Harry had it running around in circles and over his books which he had set up like little obstacles. All the while the Slytherin cape flapping behind him.

"Mr. Potter this is outstanding! 35 points to Slytherin for your exceptional work!" She picked up the guinea pig and began to examine it for any flaws.

"This is truly excellent work, the only thing I can offer you is that the belly here is not round enough. I know it can be hard to see in the picture in your book so it is no fault of your own. You will be excused from the homework for tonight since you have this down pat. Class look here for a moment and see what your final product should look like when you eventually make the change."

Draco shot Harry a thumb's up for getting so many points for them and Harry nodded back at him. The rest of the class period Harry spent helping out Tracey with her transformation. By the time the bell rang she had managed to fully change the legs.

"Mr. Potter remember I need you to stay after for a minute." Harry heard McGonagall call out as he put his book back into his bag. He told his friends he would see them in the common room later tonight and not to worry if he didn't show up for dinner.

He was going to walk to the front of the room when he noticed McGonagall was already on her way to his desk. Not knowing how long this would take Harry hoisted himself up on top of his desk and leaned back against his bag to make himself comfortable.

"Thank you for staying Mr. Potter. Now originally I had planned on berating you for not paying attention in class, but seeing the results you produced I think that route would be unappreciated. Perhaps you'll help ease my curiosity though. Cross species changes are not easy by any stretch of the imagination yet you did it correctly on your first try."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the unasked question. "Professor I live with my godfather. He and my father were excellent at transfiguration; it only stands with reason that I would be naturally inclined towards this field."

"While that is true Mr. Potter I sense there is more to it than that. You have a great understanding of what it takes to make the change happen and happen accurately. For one to understand how to change a body so carefully they usually have to do it themselves. I know of your Godfather's secret Mr. Potter. Is it perhaps true that he has taught you the same thing?"

Harry almost snorted at the way she phrased it, since there was no way she knew his godfather's true secret and that he had actually been teaching him it. "No ma'am Sirius told me becoming an animagus was too advanced for me this summer. It is something I find myself curious about, but don't know if it would be worthwhile."

McGonagall stared at him for a moment to assess the truth in his statements. She nodded apparently pleased by what he had said. "Very well then Mr. Potter, you truly are a remarkable student. As such I would like to extend an invite for you to learn the concepts behind becoming an animagus from me. Then next year if you have made adequate progress you could practice the transformation. "

Harry didn't know what to do. Naturally if he wasn't already an animagus he would have jumped at the opportunity, but now he needed a reason to decline. "Thank you for the offer Professor, but I just don't think I'll have the time. Especially not with our O.W.L.S coming up next year. I'll be studying more than I do already."

McGonagall looked put out but it didn't show in her tone. "Very well Mr. Potter if you change your mind the invite will be open indefinitely. You are dismissed now, have a good day."

Harry had decided to skip dinner that night; if he got hungry he could always go to the kitchens and have the elves make him something. He was walking down an empty corridor when a pop coming from behind him had him pressing up against the wall to get out of the way of anything that might be thrown at him. To his relief it was just Twink though.

"Twink is sorry to have scared master sir; he has a message from missy Delacour. She is asking Twink to let you know they have left France and is on their way."

"Excellent, thank you Twink and don't worry it was not your fault. I'm just a little paranoid is all. If you have nothing else to do, could you tell Fleur I can't wait to see her, but she needs to remember the plan we discussed."

The elf nodded its head excitedly and then popped away, leaving Harry alone in the corridor once again. He stopped at the next window he came to and looked out across the grounds. The sun had already almost set and it was pretty dark outside. He could make out the light coming from Hagrid's hut and a few forms flying lazily around the Quidditch pitch. In a little while it would be dark enough for him to change and explore the grounds. Normally he would have had a lesson with Snape, but they had agreed not to start those until next week.

That left him with almost three hours to kill before the curfew hit and he just didn't know what to do. Normally he would have homework or something to study for, but because McGonagall had excluded him from the homework and he had finished his Potions essay the night before he had nothing to work on. He began making his way down the stairs towards the entrance. He walked out and found that it was slightly chillier out than he had been expecting. Thankfully his form had a solid coat of fur to protect him from the winds. He wandered for a while gradually getting closer and closer to the edge of the forest. Once he was inside it he could safely change without being seen. He moved in the direction of the lake since there were a lot of little wooded areas around the perimeter of it that provided the perfect cover. It didn't take him long to find a suitable spot. He made sure to cast a notice-me-not charm around the edges of it so that he could safely come back to it later to change back. It wouldn't do for him to be trying to change back only to find some random adventurous couple.

Despite not having changed often the shift came surprisingly easy. Harry supposed it was like learning to ride a broom, once you learned you never really forgot it. Soon he was in his form and adjusting to his new heighted senses. Once his vision had adjusted for the darkness he sniffed the air and got a whiff of something very familiar. His curiosity peeked he began to slink off in the direction of the smell. He carefully and quietly snuck along through the bushes and grass for about four hundred meters until he saw two figures standing alone in another well hidden area.

Thanks to his sharp hearing he could just make out the words that were being said between the two men.

"Listen Crouch, you cannot afford to mess this up; make sure you do exactly as you are supposed to and do not get caught." The voice was one he recognized as Mr. Malfoy.

"I know Lucius; I'm not one of the incompetent masses. I have a brain and can use it. No one even suspects that I'm not the great Alistor Moody. Even Dumbledore who claims to be such great friends with the man isn't aware of my deception. In fact the only one who even seems suspicious of me is that Potter kid." The other man, Crouch, stated with pride.

"Oh really?" Harry could hear the slight amusement in Mr. Malfoy's tone, "Just what is it that Mr. Potter has done that makes you think he is suspicious of you?"

"He hasn't done anything per say; it's more of the way he looks at me. When I was going over our curriculum for the year and talking about the lessons he had this look in his eyes that showed mistrust. It sounds paranoid, but I just know the boy is aware something is off. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since he does live with Black. The boy is bound to be well trained on recognizing things that are out of the ordinary."

Harry swelled up a little at the praise he was receiving from Crouch. The name seemed so familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he had heard it before.

"Yes Harry is quite unique isn't he? He always looks like he has some great secret he's keeping. I assure you though that if Mr. Potter does indeed suspect you then that is of no concern since he knows the minor details of what is happening this year and will in fact be helping. Now if there is nothing else that you have to report I think we should both take our leave. It wouldn't do for a Professor to get caught coming out of the Forbidden Forest so late at night now would it?" Lucius didn't wait for a response as he turned and silently apparated away.

Crouch turned and got ready to leave when he suddenly stopped and looked directly at Harry's hiding spot.

Silently Harry was praying that the magical eye in his head didn't reveal animagus forms. He knew there were spells for it, but surely those couldn't be attached to an eye right?

"Well, well looks like we had a guest. Come on out now, real slow like. Don't make any sudden movements or try anything funny." Harry didn't budge hoping the man was just trying to bluff him out. "Come on now I know you're there so don't make this hard. Walk out into the clearing and don't transform until I tell you."

Harry knew he had been caught now and cursed his curiosity for getting the best of him. If he had just acted like a Slytherin and let his sense of self-preservation take over he never would have come near this place. Slowly he emerged from the bushes he had posted up in and came to a stop in front of the man who looked like Moody.

"That's good, now if you cooperate maybe I'll let you escape with a memory charm. Transform and don't try nothing sneaky or I'll blast you." Harry focused and slowly he began to grow. In a matter of seconds he was standing in front of Crouch in his human form.

At first the man looked shocked, and then it changed to a smile, and finally a full-blown smug smirk.

"I told that arrogant son-of-a-bitch you were onto me! You heard me tell him! Well done Potter, suppose Black taught you to be an animagus, huh? Mighty useful skill there."

Harry was only half paying attention, if this man thought that he was going to escape with his memory of Harry's animagus form in tact then he was sorely mistaken. There was no way he would risk the man getting caught and spilling secrets about him. He just needed to wait for the opportunity to catch the man off guard and the obliviate the bastard.

"In all honesty I wasn't really suspicious Professor, or do you prefer Crouch? I just happened to be out for a stroll in my form and then I caught the scent of Mr. Malfoy and was curious as to what he was doing on Hogwarts ground so late." The man looked slightly less smug at Harry's admission but the smile never left his face.

"Well anyway Potter how about I escort you back to the castle now. If anyone asks I'll just tell them you fell asleep by the lake and I found you while I was doing my rounds. Come along, let's try and get back."

Harry smirked mentally he walked up next to his "professor" and the man never stood a chance. Just as he reached the man's side his wand was already out and the obliviate was colliding with the man. Harry found himself drawn into the man's memories and watched as the spell went to work destroying what had just happened. He left the part where Crouch had met with Lucius so as to not arouse suspicion if Lucius brought it up at a later point. Then he added in Moody coming across a passed out Harry near the bank of the lake. Satisfied with the work he had done he ended the spell and pulled out of the mind.

While Moody was getting his bearing about him Harry stowed his wand away and adapted a concerned expression.

"Are you alright Professor? You lost your balance there for a second."

"Yeah Potter, I'll be fine now come on let's get you back to the castle before you get in any type of trouble for being out so late."

It wasn't long before the two had reached the entrance of the castle. Harry turned down the corridor towards the dungeons and wished his professor a good evening. The man just stood there staring at his back trying to remember something, but with no luck. With a final huff the man started on his way back to his room. It had been a long day and he had the first and fourth year classes tomorrow.

The much anticipated defense class had finally come. Today Moody had promised to introduce them to the Unforgivables and show them how to throw off an Imperious curse. It was perhaps one of the most talked about classes in the school. Everyone was there early hoping to get a good seat.

Moody walked in with five minutes to spare and stopped when he realized everyone was there already. "Excited for the lesson I suppose? Not a surprise as most of you won't ever see these again in your life. Alright we'll get started right away then. No silly role call today. If you aren't here for this lesson then you missed out."

Harry watched as the man dumped out his bag and three jars fell out. Each one had a spider in it that Harry assumed would be the test subject.

"Alright now who can tell me what the three Unforgivable curses are?" He surveyed the class and saw that only a few hands were up. Unsurprisingly most of them were Slytherins, but there were a few Gryffindors that knew.

"Yes you, Ms. Granger, give me one of the curses." He barked at the bushy haired girl.

"The Imperious curse professor, it is used to take…" but she was cut off by Moody before she could begin her lecture.

"I asked you to give me the name Ms. Granger not read word for word the definition. Trust me by the end of today everyone will know exactly what these curses do. Next who can tell me one of the other curses? Yes you, Ms. Greengrass give me another."

"The Cruciatus sir." Daphne offered no elaboration not wanting to be embarrassed like Granger had been.

"Excellent, now how about you tell us the last one Mr. Longbottom. As I'm sure you're the most…intimately familiar with it."

Longbottom looked slightly uneasy now that he was being called out by the man but answered nonetheless. "The Killing Curse sir, Avada Kedavra."

"Yes now that we know the three curses, I will show you what each does. First will be the Imperious Curse. It is used to take control of whoever you cast it on. They will do whatever you say. Observe." He dumped out one of the spiders and before it could make a move to escape he had hit it with the curse.

Students laughed as he made it do little circus tricks like dance and do back flips. "That's right laugh because it's funny!" The man barked at the class which went silent instantly. "Cause it's funny until it's someone in your family under it and there made to do this." Here the class watched as the spider climbed up the side of a glass of water and then jumped in and proceeded to drown itself. The reality of what the curse was used for suddenly sunk in and most people who hadn't already know paled.

"Now the Cruciatus, arguable the most terrible of the three curses. It causes extreme pain in the victim. The spell targets your nerves and causes them to stretch and pull so it will feel like hot knives being dragged across your entire body while it's being pulled in different directions."

He dumped out the second spider and the whole class seemed to inch forward in their seats to get a good view of what was about to happen. As soon as the curse hit there was a shrill shriek from the spider as it began to spasm on the desk. Some of the more squeamish in the class sank back in their chairs and tried to shield their eyes. Moody didn't let up with the curse until about three minutes had passed. The spider had stopped spasming and was lying on the desk unmoving.

"It's not dead if that's what you want to know. It was driven insane by the pain of the curse. Depending on the damage done it could be reversible or the victim may be stuck in a magical coma for the rest of their lives. It's a pitiful existence where they will be forced to relive the pain every day." He paused to let the information sink in. "Now for the third and final curse. The Killing Curse is easily recognizable by the green light it emits. The incantation is Avada Kedavra." He pointed his wand at the third spider and muttered the words. By now he had the whole class's attention as the green flash washed over everyone in the room and the spider lay motionless.

"Any questions?" No one in the class raised their hands. "Very well, now I'm going to teach you how to throw off the Imperious. One by one I'll place it on you and give you some simple commands to follow. All you have to do is exert your will over the voice you're going to hear in your head and then you will be able to throw it off. I'll start at the front here and work my way to the back. We'll start with Mr. Weasley here and end with Mr. Potter."

Weasley didn't stand a chance against the spell. The boy got up and attempted to do a front flip off the desk only to land smack on his face. Most of the Slytherins laughed at the boy and even some of his own housemates laughed at him.

Next up was Seamus Finnegan, he didn't fare any better than Weasley and the boy was soon confessing his love to Dean Thomas. Dean was made to run laps around the room. Lavendar Brown sang the Hogwarts song. Then there was a surprise Parvati Patil managed to momentarily resist the urge to dance on her desk; in the end though the girl wound up giving in.

Longbottom was next and Moody seemed to hesitate before casting the spell. Harry watched intently as the spell finally came and Longbottom's eyes glazed over.

**Neville POV**

He suddenly felt very relaxed. He had been worried after seeing some of the things his classmates had to do and was afraid his would be equally as embarrassing. Now though he was just relaxed and if he listened closely he could swear someone was whispering to him.

"Stand up and confess your love for Professor Snape boy."

He suddenly felt himself stand up but then stopped before he opened his mouth. "Why would I confess my love for Professor Snape? I hate the man."

"Do it boy!" The voice that had been whispering was louder and angrier now.

Neville knew now that he wasn't going to listen to it. "No I don't think I will. I don't want to do that."

The voice seemed calmer this time when it spoke. "Fine then why don't you just have a seat?"

"Well alright then, that doesn't sound so bad."

Then the spell was cancelled and he felt himself gain control of his body again. He groaned as he realized he'd just done exactly what the voice had told him to.

**End Neville POV**

Harry had watched the whole thing. He saw the boy struggle to fight whatever the first command had been, but once the second one, presumably to sit down, had come the boy had just given up. It was at least the best effort yet.

"Well done Mr. Longbottom, well done indeed. You almost had it boy, if there's time at the end I'll work with you some more and we'll make sure you can throw it off."

Then Moody was back at it and the class was once again making fools of themselves. Even the Slytherins eventually wound up giving in. Draco had been able to get a little bit further than Longbottom in throwing it off but even he had eventually given in. By the time it was Harry's turn Moody was looking very disappointed.

"Not a single ruddy person can throw off this curse? Are you really all so weak willed? What if it was a life or death situation!? Potter hopefully you can restore my faith in this class. Stand at the ready boy."

Harry mentally prepared himself. He was ready for the curse to hit, and the second it did he was going to sever it. He watched as the grayish light came towards him and washed over his body. For a split second he felt a mental fog start to set in, but quickly used his mind shield to sever the connection and push the fog out.

"Well done Mr. Potter, I don't think I've seen anyone throw off an Imperious that fast in a long time. Not since the first war that is. Back then it was common for people to be able to stand up against the curse. Take 20 points for Slytherin Mr. Potter since you were the only to manage to throw the curse off. Mr. Potter you're excused from the homework, the rest of you I expect a foot essay on what the Imperious feels like and why you think some commands are easier to disobey than others. Class dismissed, now get out!"

No one hesitated to get up and make their way towards the door. Harry heard Moody growl out for Longbottom to stay behind, but pushed it to the back of his mind remembering that Moody had wanted to practice with Longbottom. _Probably under Dumbledore's orders no doubt _Harry thought bitterly.

Not wanting to make himself angry thinking about Longbottom and Dumbledore Harry quickly changed his thought track. He needed to talk to Draco about his plan for when Fleur arrived. It wouldn't do any good for him and Fleur to avoid each other if Draco went right up and started talking about the summer.

"Draco hang on a second I need to talk to you about something." Draco dropped back to talk with Harry while the others picked up their pace. That was something he really appreciated about his group of friends. If you needed to talk privately with someone then the others would give you that space. They all had their own secrets to hide and share, and even though they were all friends it didn't mean they were just going to share everything about themselves with everyone.

Once Harry was sure that his friends were out of hearing he took another corridor off to the left. He made sure there weren't any eavesdropping portraits before casting a quick muffliato so anyone trying to listen in would just hear buzzing in their ears.

"Alright I needed to tell you what was going on when Fleur got here. The two of us agreed to pretend like we don't know each other. It wouldn't do any good for us to be all friendly and then have Dumbledore trying to find out how we know each other so well. So I just wanted to make sure you avoided her and if Gabby is here then her as well."

Draco seemed put off at the idea of avoiding the girls and Harry quickly reassured him it would only be for a few days until he could accidentally bump into her. Then they would strike up a friendship and it would be okay to hang out with them again. This seemed to brighten the blond boy's mood and the two worked out just how long they would wait before running into the girls again and then headed off towards their dorms. They had a little bit of time before dinner so they wanted to change into more comfortable robes and drop off their books.

By the time they made it to the Great Hall the rest of their group was already seated and had started eating. Harry took a glance at the head table and found it interesting that all of the staff was present. Normally that only happened on holidays and the beginning and closing feasts. Dumbledore had already announced the tournament the night before so that couldn't be it, but then that left only one thing the man could be planning to announce. Harry was sure he was about to talk about his victory this summer and wanted everyone present for it. Suddenly Harry's mood was a lot better than it had been all day. He took his normal seat with Draco to his right and Tracey on his left. He poked her in the side just as she went to swallow some mash potatoes causing her to squeak and gag. It was quite the comical thing, well Harry thought so at least.

"What was that for jerk!? I could have died!" She glared at him as he laughed silently to himself.

"Oh please it was a bit of mash potatoes, hardly something that would kill you. Besides I thought Blaise was the melodramatic one here."

Feeling the need to defend himself Blaise spoke up, "Hey I am not melodramatic! What would make you even think that?"

Harry was going to say something but Draco beat him to it. "Well how about two days ago when you didn't want to go to dinner because you couldn't find a pair of pants to match your robe? I do believe you said and I quote "I would rather starve than be seen in this outfit."" The rest of their friends who had been listening began to laugh at the boy's expense. Daphne rubbed his back soothingly, but Blaise wasn't done yet.

"Well it was atrocious! Draco you can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing! I know you have bet…similar but lesser fashion sense than me." Draco smirked as he Blaise slipped up.

"I didn't say I wouldn't but you were asking about examples of yourself not me."

Any comment Blaise had was cut off by the headmaster calling out for silence.

Harry for once gave his full attention to the man as he couldn't wait to see the reaction from the rest of the school about his victory. Undoubtedly some already knew, but for the general population it would come as a shock.

"May I have your attention please. I have a splendid announcement about certain events that took place this summer. For those of you who do not know every year there is an international dueling tournament held. There are two age groups one being for 13-16 year olds and the other is for adults."

Here he paused to let everyone speculate what he was about to tell them about this tournament.

"This past summer we had someone from our very own school compete in the tournament. Not only did this young man compete in the tournament, but he managed to win the whole thing. Harry Potter is now officially the dueling champion for his age group. I had originally planned on announcing this at the opening feast, but thought it would be better to give him some time to settle in. Mr. Potter would you please stand up and receive a round of applause for your truly outstanding accomplishment."

Harry got up and let himself bask in the looks of wonder and amazement that he was receiving. He also noticed some more predatory stares from girls of varying ages. He supposed it was only natural for them to want to attach themselves to a wizard of power. Combine his power with his fortune and title and he was suddenly a very eligible bachelor he supposed. Too bad for them he was only interested in one blond haired French witch. It went on for about two minutes before he decided to take his seat and let the Headmaster complete his speech.

When the last applause stopped Dumbledore spoke again. "Yes, yes applause that was truly earned. I ask you not to mob Mr. Potter as it would be a shame to make him demonstrate the abilities that got him through such a tough competition in the hallways. However I encourage you to congratulate him on your own if you pass him in the hall. Also be aware that tomorrow our guests will be arriving and if you would like to greet them when they arrive be outside the entrance hall at noon. That is all I have for you, may you all have a good night."

Once Dumbledore had taken his seat chatter in the Great Hall broke out again. Groups of people all over were not so subtlety casting glances at Harry. A few brave people even came up to him and asked for his autograph. He had initially wanted to scoff at the idea, but then seeing the glare Longbottom was giving him from across the hall he gratefully signed each one. One Hufflepuff girl even tried to offer herself to him in exchange for dueling lessons. He hadn't even gotten to answer that one as Tracey had "accidentally" banished the girl into the wall.

Deciding he should leave before things got out of hand he told his friends he was going to do some studying before bed. He made it all the way to his room when he remembered he had dropped his books off in Draco's dorm room. He could have asked one of his elves to get it, but decided that it wasn't that far of a walk and he could get it on his own.

He got into the dorm and grabbed his bag without a scene. Mostly because the common room was still empty, but when he tried to leave he found his way blocked by an older Slytherin. He recognized her as one of the prefects, Alicia Moon, if he remembered right.

"Excuse me Moon, but would you mind moving I'm trying to go study." He pointed at his bag of books to emphasize the point.

Instead of answering him right away the girl stepped a little closer and adjusted her robe so that he had a very nice view. It was then that he took his first good look at the girl. She wasn't the prettiest girl he had seen. Fleur and Tracey were certainly much prettier. However Moon definitely wasn't lacking in looks. She stood about 4 inches shorter than him and had shoulder length brown hair. Her eyes were a warm chocolate brown color. She had on a little bit of lipstick to make her lips look exceptionally plump and red. She had a slim build with a good size chest and overall Harry though most guys would probably want a chance with her.

"Actually Potter I think I have something more fun than studying that you could do." She managed to get closer and slink her arms around his back so now she was flush against him. "Most people assume you're dating that Davis girl, but I know better. So how about we go up to your dorm and have a little fun? All you do is study and I'm sure you're very stressed. I could help you…release…some of that tension." By now she was practically purring in his ear and Harry was desperately trying to cling to rational thought.

He should have known this was coming, especially from a girl in Slytherin. They were the house of ambition and cunning. If Moon got him then she would undoubtedly raise her own social standing in the eyes of all the other girls. Going along that path of thought was what brought him back down from the momentary lapse of judgment and rational thought he had experienced. He carefully and gently pushed her off of him and picked up the bag of books he had dropped.

"No thanks Moon, I'm not interested in being someone's free ride to fame. If I have to work for everything I have, then you should to. Prove to me that you're worth just as much as I am and maybe I'll consider your offer. Until that time though, I'm sure there's plenty of guys who would want to have some fun…like Crabbe and Goyle for example." He walked out leaving a stunned and slightly hurt girl in his wake.

Once safely down the hall with no sign of Moon chasing him down vowing revenge he let out a loud laugh. The expression on her face when he had suggested Crabbe or Goyle was completely priceless. Those two weren't completely hideous but combine it with their lack of intelligence and social skills and you had two vastly unattractive options.

Deciding to forgo any studying since it was a weekend and he wanted to get a good amount of sleep so he would be well rested when the other schools got there tomorrow he went right to his room and laid down. Tomorrow was undoubtedly going to be very busy and hectic with trying to get everyone settled in, but it didn't matter because tomorrow she would be there. He went to sleep with a smile etched across his face.


	23. Chapter 23

**Neville POV**

He dropped to the ground barely avoiding the cutter that had threatened to cut his midsection. He rolled twice and then pushed himself back to his feet only to immediately shield.

Neville was so frustrated with himself. No matter what he did he could never get off the defensive against Dumbledore. He should have been improving, but it seemed like he was just always staying the same. Angrily he dodged a bludgeoning curse and decided to throw back some cutting curses of his own. He was tired of spending all the time dodging or shielding.

"Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo! Reducto!" His moment of happiness at finally getting spells off was short lived as a wall sprung to life in front of Dumbledore and swallowed the three cutting curses and absorbed the explosion from his reducto.

With an angry snarl he threw his wand to the ground made to charge the Headmaster until he was blasted off his feet. When he landed he was looking up at the ceiling of the Room of Requirement. He contemplated just staying there staring at the ceiling. Then Dumbledore came over and his vision was half blocked by the giant white beard the man was sporting.

"What is wrong Neville? Clearly you are very frustrated and I would like to help you work through whatever it is that is bothering you so clearly."

Neville thought about just not answering for a moment, but then took a deep breath and let it out. He knew it wasn't entirely the lack of progress that he was making that was bothering him. "It's a lot of things Headmaster. First I just can't seem to make any progress here. You're just too good and I can't get any better. I'm always on the defensive. Secondly is Potter and his success. I keep waiting for him to mess up so that people stop respecting him. I thought that by beating him in that duel he would lose some of his respect, but then he just went out and proved he could beat anyone by winning that tournament. He's got a lot of friends, power, he's rich, and he even got a beautiful girlfriend! How can one person have everything?" Neville's rant finally came to an end and immediately he felt foolish for acting so childish in front of the Headmaster. Instead of the disappointment in his eyes though the Headmaster was chuckling a little.

"Oh my, you certainly do have a lot of worries my boy. I know you don't feel like you're making progress, but few wizards could hope to last as long as you do against an opponent of my caliber. In a year or two I dare say you'll be trading spells with some of the best of them. Perhaps then you could enter the dueling tournament and prove your skills that way. Now let's talk about Mr. Potter for a bit. I think that should be our lesson for tonight actually. Knowing your opponent, although I caution you on thinking of Mr. Potter as a true opponent. He is not evil contrary to what you may think, he is simply a Slytherin and the animosity between you to stems mostly from house rivalry. When it comes time for you to rely on Mr. Potter for help I daresay he will be there." Dumbledore watched as Neville digested all of this information in his head before continuing on.

"You say Mr. Potter has a lot of friends and it's true you will never see him without a group around. Ask yourself though are these really his friends? Or are they people who are trying to ride the curtails of his success? It seems to me it is most likely the ladder option. In Slytherin the students are ambitious, therefor it goes with reason they would try and acquaintance themselves with someone they think is going somewhere in the world. It appears that Mr. Potter has become that person in his year. So is it not better for you to have a few very close true friends than Mr. Potters many acquaintances?"

Neville was really thinking hard about what the Headmaster was telling him. It was true he supposed, someone like Malfoy could never be a true friend after all, he was just too annoying and conceited. "I suppose you're right sir. Although I still think he might have some real friends like Zabini and Greengrass. They were friends with Potter before he started showing off."

"I think you're right Neville, he does indeed have a few real friends. Or at least that is how they appear. We shall see some day if that is how it really turns out. Don't forget that Mr. Zabini did at one point take Ms. Greengrass right out from under Mr. Potter. You brought up the issue of his power. For this I am afraid I can offer you nothing in the way of an excuse. Mr. Potter is truly a talented individual who strives to do his best in everything. He works extraordinarily hard and often will forgo any type of fun or relaxation for work. That is where I think you excel my boy, you know how to enjoy life and have fun. For Harry, his idea of having fun is being buried in work or uncovering something new he hadn't known. If you want power like his that is what you must give up. Your ability to have fun with your friends on weekends, no more Hogsmeade, even during the summer you would be required to work harder than you do now. Is that worth it Neville? Do you want to become an emotionless person that your friends won't want to be around?"

Neville shook his head vehemently. There was no way he could give up his free time.

"Now the last of your concerns; you can't do anything about Mr. Potter being rich. His family is extremely old and made some very wise investments. However your family is not poor by any means. Money will never be a worry for you as long as you spend wisely. I assume you are referring to Miss Davis when you say girlfriend. However I have it on good word that she is in fact not dating Harry. They are merely friends. In fact no one has ever seen them kiss or do anything past a hug, and if they have they won't talk about it. Now was there anything else that was bothering you?" Neville shook his head as Dumbledore somehow had a reason against all of his worries and concerns.

"Well then I suppose you should be getting back to your common room. Tomorrow is a big day after all and I would like you by my side to welcome the guests." Neville took the dismissal and left the room.

"It's just not fair though, I'm the boy-who-lived. People should respect me, want to be my friend, and even want to date me. Instead they all look at Potter like it's him who saved them. I'm going to find something to use against him. There has to be something I can do that will get under his skin and force him to show his true self. He's always so polite and kind during class or when they're professors around. No one ever sees how cruel he really is. That's going to change this year."

**END NEVILLE POV**

Harry was feeling strange the next morning. He couldn't explain it, but he was anxious. She'd be getting here today. This was going to be the chance they really needed. They could finally spend time getting to know each other. If everything went right then by the end of the year the two might even end up dating.

This wasn't like him at all. He didn't need other peoples' approval. He didn't need a girlfriend to keep him happy. That didn't mean he didn't want one though. He was still a teenage boy no matter how much he didn't act like one.

He had gotten up early, made sure to do a few exercises, went and ate a healthy breakfast, came back and showered, and was now standing in front of the mirror trying to pick out his best set of casual robes.

"God I must be acting so much like Draco and Blaise right now. I need to stop. They're most likely going to be in their school robes anyway if I look too dressed up then it just looks like I was trying really hard to impress someone."

Finally deciding on just a simple black robe with a metallic green trim he finished getting ready. It was already ten o clock and he had two more hours until the other schools were scheduled to arrive. He had no idea how they would be arriving exactly as Fleur refused to tell him. He supposed it would be interesting to see the schools method of transport.

He didn't know if any of his other friends were going and didn't want to risk waking them up if they weren't so instead he decided to read to kill time. He walked over to his book shelf and began scanning the titles for something he thought might be interesting. It took him a few minutes but he finally decided on a book about the magical properties of potions ingredients. While potions was not one of his favorite subjects he couldn't deny its usefulness and knowing how to modify a potion to become something more useful would come in handy.

He read for about thirty minutes before even that had him bored. Deciding it would just be best to get out of the castle he put his book back in place and then headed out. Once he reached outside he momentarily thought about taking his usual route and going towards the lake. He finally opted on a different path though and set off towards the rockier cliffs that most students tended to avoid. The cliffs were a very dangerous section on the backside of Hogwarts. He had never been back there himself, but had heard of students going back there and almost falling off. He chalked that up to the students being stupid though. He didn't plan on doing anything stupid. He merely needed a place far away from everyone else for the time being.

When he finally reached his destination he was happy to see the perfect spot to lie down and relax. There was a small maybe eight or nine foot indent inwards producing a cave like hole in the wall, but protruding out of it was a longer rock. It looked like the perfect place to lie down and relax since it was even in the sun. The path to it wasn't dangerous at all, but he proceeded with caution just in case. He fired a quick incendio into the cave to make sure there was no dangerous creature lurking around inside. Satisfied when nothing came running out he made his way onto the flat slab and laid down.

He cast a notice-me-not charm and a disillusionment charm on himself so that no one would be able to disturb him. Then he used a modified form of tempus to set an alarm so he wouldn't over sleep and miss the schools showing up. He didn't plan on actually falling asleep, he really just wanted to be outside and enjoy the fresh air and sun, but one could never be too careful.

Because his eyes were closed Harry never noticed the other person that had been following him. He didn't see the dejected look on their face when they realized Harry had not been up to something evil. With a disappointed sigh the other boy turned around and began his march back to the castle. He would have to wait for another chance to oust Potter.

At 11:45 Harry's alarm had gone off. He quickly got up and brushed himself off before casting a quick scourgify just to make sure he'd gotten all the dust. He set off at a relaxed pace towards the front of the school. He knew it didn't take fifteen minutes to walk around the side of the building. Besides it was likely the other schools wouldn't be here exactly at twelve either.

Unsurprisingly by the time he got there most of the school's population was outside waiting for their new guests. From where he was he could barely see the path way that led to the doors.

"Well that just won't do." Harry mumbled to himself. He began to nudge his way through the large crowd. At first he was met by a lot of resistance but once people realized exactly who was trying to get by them they tended to move out of his way without much trouble.

Finally he reached the front of the crowd and was now standing almost on the path. The people around him gave him a wide berth so as to not accidentally piss him off. It was 12:05 now and Dumbledore was standing a little ways down the path with a smiling Longbottom at his side. _No surprise there Harry thought_.

He had suspected Dumbledore might use the boy to try and make a good impression of the school. Sometimes the man was just too predictable for his own good. At 12:10 the lake surface started to ripple. It was small at first but then the ripples got bigger and bigger. Until finally the nose of a ship broke the surface; seconds later the rest of the ship was sitting on top of the surface. It was an impressive looking ship. Made from what appeared to be mahogany wood. It was painted in the colors of black and red and had ornate carvings all along its side. The portholes on the ship appeared to be made of onyx instead of the normal iron or steel. The Durmstrang flag flew proudly from the center and tallest mast on the ship.

Harry watched with interest as the ship got closer and prepared to make port. Anchors lowered from the sides and a gangplank started to magically extend and expand until it was wide enough for three or four columns of people and had reached the shore. The first to emerge from the ship was a tall man, possibly 6' 6" with a scruffy black beard and sharp pointed features. This was probably their headmaster. Behind him in two columns were the students they had brought. There was approximately forty of them all adorned in heavy winter cloaks. They must have been sweating under all that fur.

At the head of the lines was Victor Krum. Harry knew he was in school still, but didn't think the boy would have been able to make the tournament since of the Quidditch practices he would be missing. Perhaps the boy was good at more than just Quidditch then Harry mused. He supposed they would all find out just how good he was in a month when the goblet decided the champions. Harry listened closely as The Durmstrang Headmaster approached Dumbledore.

"Igor! How great to see you my old friend. I hope you have been well these past few years."

The man did not look as pleased to see Dumbledore as Dumbledore was to see him. "I've been good. It is not so cold here; you said it was getting to be winter Dumbledore. Surely you did not lie?"

Dumbledore kept smiling at the man while Longbottom moved around the headmaster's to try and interact with the students. Krum seemed to not even notice the boy, but the others were at least listening to what the boy was saying.

"Igor I did not lie, I just forgot how cold it is where you are from. I assume this must be quite warm for you and your students. I apologize for misleading you."

The man grunted as a response and then turned towards his students. He barked something in Bulgarian and suddenly elves popped out of nowhere frantically taking the students fur jackets. When the chaos ended the students stood in jet black robes with red cuffs and red collars. The Durmstrang emblem was emblazoned on their chest over their heart. On the back of each robe the students had their last name printed.

The robes were much more impressive than the ones the Hogwarts students were made to wear, at least in Harry's opinion.

He heard Dumbledore invite the students to stay and wait for Beauxbaxtons to show up and then they could all enjoy a welcoming feast together. Again the Durmstrang headmaster grunted and then barked something in Bulgarian to the students. They filed past him and the students made a space for them to fit into to watch and wait for the final school.

They weren't waiting too much longer when the first student spotted it.

"What is that?!" Harry heard someone shout behind him. He noticed a bunch of hands pointed into the sky and let his gaze wander in their general direction.

Coming down from the sky was what appeared to be a giant horse drawn carriage. As it got closer Harry recognized the "horses" as a creature he had read about in one of his more bored moments. It was a horse of sorts, but its proper name was an Abraxton. The carriage finally landed and pulled right up to where the two headmasters already stood. A door on the side of the carriage opened and then a staircase started to descend from the side.

The most massive woman Harry had ever seen was the first to emerge. She was almost the size of Hagrid. Speaking of Hagrid…

Harry watched as the man suddenly appeared and stood next to Dumbledore.

"Madam Maxime I'm so glad you and your girls have arrived safely. " Dumbledore gave the traditional French greeting by kissing the woman on both cheeks, while Igor inclined his head.

"It is good to be on the ground again. We have been flying a long time and it is nice to stretch our legs." Here she made a gesture towards the columns of girls in powder blue robes with white trim. They were simple but accented just how beautiful most of the girls were. Harry didn't care though, there was only one he was looking for and to his relief she was in the front of the line. He watched with a slight pang of jealousy as Longbottom approached her. She had a sour look on her face, but it went away once he began to speak. Harry could tell the boy was fighting off her veela charm and it must have impressed her.

"Damn it, that's not supposed to happen." Harry mumbled to himself. He looked up to see Fleur still talking to the boy, but for a second her eyes scanned the crowd and then landed right on him. She gave a shy smile in his direction and he gave a small one back. He didn't think anyone had noticed the quick exchange, but he was wrong. He saw Longbottom eye him curiously and then a smirk that should have only been on the face of a Slytherin crossed his face. When he turned around to talk to Fleur some more though the smirk was gone replaced with what most people would have believed was a genuine smile. It made him angry that he couldn't walk up and just put an end to Longbottom's show. Harry doubted very much the boy had figured out the connection between the two of them. It was more like he had thought Harry had a crush on the girl and was now going to try and steal her away before he had a chance. The thought actually amused Harry. He had no reason to worry if Longbottom was his only real competition for the affections of Fleur. He already had the advantage over the boy and the sucker didn't even know it. A sharp elbow in his side brought his attention back from his thoughts of Longbottom. He found Tracey standing next to him with a knowing smirk on her face. He gave her a glare that stopped any comment she was about to make. Now he was going to have to talk to her like he had with Draco. Nothing was going right at the moment. This was not how he had planned and imagined it. He saw the headmasters and headmistress turn to walk towards the school. He supposed it was time for the feast. Hagrid called out to Madam Maxime as they were leaving.

"Madam would you like me to take care of these beautiful creatures? I can tie 'em up behind my hut they'll have plenty of room to stretch and move around out there."

"Yes that is acceptable, but remember they only drink single-malt whiskey!"

Seeing that everyone was starting to head in, Harry grabbed Tracey's arm and pulled her in the opposite direction of the entrance.

"Harry what are you doing? The feast is the other way silly. Surely you're not lost after going here for so long."

"No it's nothing like that. I'm actually not going to the feast, but I need to let you know what's going on. I can tell you figured out who the girl was. Her name is Fleur Delacour since you're bound to pester me until I tell you now. She's a quarter veela and I met her on a trip to France with my godfather. You can't let on that I know her though. I'm not trying to have Dumbledore or anyone else digging around in my life figuring out why I know the daughter of the French Minister for Magic."

Tracey's mouth made an "O" shape as what Harry had said sunk in. "Alright Harry I promise. I didn't realize you were trying to keep your relationship with her a secret. Well if there's nothing else I am going to the feast since I missed breakfast."

She started to head off when Harry stopped her again. "Actually let me know if she's sitting with Longbottom and his group. I have a feeling the pest is going to try and make her hate me or something. I need to know exactly what it is he's doing before I decide what a proper punishment will be." His tone had gone cold by the time he finished and Tracey actually felt shivers go up her spine as he said the word punishment. For a second she almost pitied Longbottom for being a fool and trying to mess with Harry, but only for a second then she remembered the boy had brought it on himself.

"Sure Harry I can do that, just don't do something to get expelled."

"Aww I didn't know you cared so much Tracey. I'll be careful though, just for you." The sarcasm dripped off of every word and Harry barely kept his composure.

"The only reason I don't want to see you expelled is because my Transfiguration grade is dependent on you being in school." She left quickly after not giving Harry a chance for another comeback.

Since he was forgoing the welcoming feast Harry decided he should at least do something productive. Since Longbottom had pissed him off he needed to come up with some sort of fair punishment. Initially he thought he might have felt bad for helping Longbottom reach the last task where there was obviously a trap, but since the boy seemed intent on making him miserable any remorse he would have felt vanished.

His initial thought was perhaps an experiment with the chaining of runes. Perhaps he could find a way into the boy's dorm and carve them into his mattress. The boy would never have a chance to avoid it. The only problem was he needed a way into the Gryffindor common room and it needed to be at a time that all of them would be out. Since they had almost every class with the Gryffindors he would most likely end up skipping a class to do it. However that would raise a lot of suspicion on him.

This would require precise planning and execution. He was going to need the help of someone else. He already had ideas for potential candidates now he would just need to figure out exactly what he wanted the runes to do and have a stencil of it so he could easily place and activate them.

With a lot of work ahead of him Harry made his way back to his room to begin his planning.

It was a few nights later when Harry was able to acquire the last item he would need for his plan. Professor Snape had been more than happy to provide it when Harry had explained his plan. When he had asked if there was more he could do to help Harry had asked for him to make an excuse for the Slytherin 1st year he was borrowing. Snape had said it was no problem and he would make sure that everyone knew the boy was doing extra potions work.

Once that was out of the way Harry's lesson had begun. It had been a long time since he had a vicious assault on his mind. He was still faring well against Snape and could manage to hold him long enough to expel the probe now, but this year Harry was going to be learning more complex defense mechanisms.

His goal now was to trap the probe in an empty space. Snape had made a snide remark about there being a lot of those in Harry's head to throw the boy's attention off before he launched his first attack.

After five vicious attacks Harry finally managed to trap the probe in an empty pocket. The next part was much more complex. While keeping the pocket shut so the probe couldn't escape he would need to bring memories of pain to it and start feeding them into the pocket. It would cause the attacked to feel a minor form of pain on his body and leave them with a splitting headache when held for a short while.

It seemed simple when talking about it, but essentially he was splitting his consciousness in two to manage completely different tasks. It was like using one half of his brain to do one thing and using the other half to do something else. It was very difficult and would take most of the year to master at the rate he was going. He had the containment part down which was something he was proud, but after ten attacks he couldn't even begin to focus on one task let alone two.

Seeing that Harry was starting to lose focus Snape stopped his mental assault and called it a night. It wouldn't due to cause lasting harm and have to explain to the nurse and Headmaster why he had been probing a student's mind with that level of viciousness.

Harry thanked the man for his time and told him that he would be carrying out his plan in two days' time. It had been three days since the schools had arrived. Tomorrow he was going to run into Fleur and start up a conversation. He couldn't wait to be able to talk to her again. He knew it was secretly killing Draco that he had to avoid Gabby also. The girl had been allowed to come since her sister was entering as a champion in the tournament, but no other 3rd year at their school had been permitted.

Nothing could ruin the good mood he was in when he went to sleep that night. Tomorrow was going to be perfect.

He was wrong as it turned out. Longbottom could and was ruining the day and his good mood. Harry had tried twice now to approach Fleur so that he could talk to her and every time before Fleur could take notice of him Longbottom would steer her away in a different direction.

He was stuck really. He couldn't call out since he wasn't supposed to know her. He couldn't try and embarrass Longbottom in front of her since she apparently had taken a liking to the boy and his friends (minus Weasley, but then again no one liked Weasley). It was going to require some subtle manipulation to get Fleur's attention and that's what Harry was about to attempt. He had enlisted the help of Draco in starting a scene with Weasley so that Longbottom would have to come to his rescue. It would give Harry the perfect time to talk to Fleur.

Now he was just waiting under his disillusionment charm outside of the Great Hall. Draco was lounging lazily against the wall near the door. It had been too easy to get Draco to help. For one he loved to do anything that would mess with the Weasleys and also without Harry talking to Fleur explaining a relationship with Gabby would be much harder for the blond boy.

It was about ten minutes later when the boy finally came into the entrance hall. Longbottom and Fleur were following just a little behind him and Granger. Well Granger was certainly an unexpected addition. Draco didn't seem fazed though. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a galleon. He carefully flipped it out in front of Weasley so it landed with a metallic clang.

"Here you go Weasley I'll give you a galleon for that whore of a girlfriend you got there." Weasley went red, Granger gasped and looked offended (at being called a whore or Weasley's girlfriend Harry didn't know) Longbottom stepped up to try and stop Weasley but it was too late. The boy already had his wand out and a spell was flying. Draco dodged it lazily and started throwing some of his own. Seeing his chance Harry moved quickly towards Fleur only dropping his charm when he was about three feet from her. Her eyes widened in shock as his form showed up in front of her, but she made no sound as he held a finger to his lips. As planned a rogue spell came their way and he carefully pulled her out of the path. He began guiding her out of the entrance hall and on to the grounds. He only looked back once and when he did Longbottom was glaring right at him. He shot the boy a quick smirk before he disappeared around the corner.

**NEVILLE POV**

Neville was so angry at the moment. The day hadn't started off great and it was only getting worse. Potter had apparently gathered up the courage to talk to Fleur. Well he wasn't going to have any of that. He had made it his goal to keep the girl away from Potter's influence. He had even gone so far as to make comments about how the boy was always causing trouble. She had looked like she wanted to say something whenever he mentioned this but had always stopped herself.

Ron was on one of his jealous times again where he would get angry because he didn't have as much. It seemed like every time Neville tried to talk to him the boy found it in some way condescending. This happened at least once a year and normally it blew over fast but Ron just wouldn't let it go this time. To make matters worse Hermione was trying to play the role of mediator so she couldn't spend as much time with him as before. On top of that she had somehow started tutoring a first year and the time he got to see her was next to none now.

At first he had planned on just annoying Potter by taking up all the time of the girl he had an interest in, but then as he talked and learned more about her he realized that he genuinely did like her. Thanks to Dumbledore he knew there was going to be a ball this year and was already planning on asking her as soon as it was announced. For once it was nice to have an advantage that there was no way Potter could have.

But now this happened and Fleur had been whisked off by the one person he had tried his hardest to keep her away from. As he looked up his day got even worse as he saw Professor Snape storming down the aisle towards them. He was about to lose points, get detention, and who knows what else. While once again Potter and Malfoy would escape unscathed and with exactly what they wanted. He didn't know what was worse, the triumphant smirk on Malfoy's face or the glare coming from Professor Snape. Some days he really hated being him.

**END NEVILLE POV**

As Harry pulled Fleur along behind him he couldn't keep the smile off his face. The plan had gone exactly as it had been thought up. Once he was sure no one was following them he slowed their pace down and dropped her hand. He was about to start talking when he felt an uneasiness wash over him. He felt like he was being watched really. He looked around and couldn't see anyone but that didn't mean there wasn't anyone. A quick revealing spell showed no one in the immediate area. Still not entirely convinced he refrained from any shows of familiarity with Fleur for the moment.

"Ms. Delacour is it? I don't believe we've had the chance to meet before now. My name is Harry Potter." Harry offered in the way of conversation as they walked. His eyes were still darting left to right to make sure no one ambushed them.

"Well Mr. Potter you certainly know how to make an entrance. Do you do it for everyone or am I just a special case?" There was a bite to her tone and Harry assumed she had caught on and was playing along.

"It really depends how I feel that day. Besides some people are worth putting a bit more effort into meeting. I saw a damsel in distress and decided I should act."

Fleur raised an eyebrow, "Damsel in distress? I fail to see how I was in any way distressed. Would you care to enlighten me?"

"Well I naturally assumed by that atrocious company you were keeping that you were bored to death and begging to be rescued." Harry gave her a pointed glance.

"I tend to disagree the company I keep is not that bad. Perhaps you should get to know…" She was cut off by Harry laughing.

"I will never get to know Longbottom. The boy seems to think he is my sworn enemy, but in all reality he does not even make it to my level. Perhaps you didn't realize he has been using you to get a rise out of me?"

Fleur looked genuinely surprised at this, "I fail to see how he could have been doing that. I think you are simply jealous that I would rather spend time with him than you."

That one hurt Harry more than he cared to admit, "Well if you paid attention today you would know that I tried twice already to talk to you in far more subtle methods, but he saw me first. He then took it on himself to guide you in the opposite direction. "

Fleur stopped when she heard that. "Did you really try…oh I'm so sorry, I didn't realize…"

"Not here, we're almost out of eyesight from the castle. Just wait a few minutes and we can be normal Fleur." Harry whispered quietly to her.

The girl just nodded her head and the two stayed silent for the rest of their walk. Harry had brought her to his hidden area that he used for animagus changes. He applied his normal privacy spells and added an extra privacy rune he had been studying on the tree trunk closest to them. It would turn red when someone got within 50 meters of the area.

Once everything was in place he leaned back against a stump and sighed. He let out an oomph when Fleur dropped right down into his lap. He barely had time to recover when he found her lips on his. It was a nice sensation. It was over almost as soon as it had started, but he couldn't fault her. It would be awkward to explain if they did get caught.

She slid off his lap and seated herself across from him. "I've missed you Harry. I'm sorry I didn't realize that boy was trying to keep us apart. He seemed so nice though. Maybe I should stop hanging around him, non?"

Harry sighed because he knew he couldn't make her decisions. "Fleur I can't tell you who to hang out with or not. You'll have to make your own decisions about the boy. If you think he's nice then continue to hang out with him. Just be careful that he doesn't try to use you to get at me in the future."

"Yes, maybe that will work. I just don't understand why he would think it would bother you if we could not talk. He does not know that we were prior acquainted."

"He saw me smiling at you when you got here. He must have assumed I had a crush on you and thought the best way to get at me would be to make you fall for him instead."

Fleur had an expression of pure innocence on her face when she spoke next, "Oh, and do you not have a crush on me Harry? Am I not…desirable…enough for you?"

Harry realized he'd been backed into a corner and tried to think of the best possible way out of it. "Fleur I like you and you know it. It's not some silly crush; I'm just waiting for the perfect time to have you become my girlfriend. I want to really spend time with you this year. Get to know each other even better than we already do, ya know?"

"I understand Harry, I was only kidding, and I feel the same way about you. After I finish my schooling this year, if things work out maybe I could pursue a career in London so we could be closer. "

"That would be nice Fleur but we're getting ahead of ourselves now. Let's just take it slow. I think we should start heading back to. Who knows if Longbottom has come looking for you thinking I pulled you into some bush and I'm trying to have my wicked way with you." Harry smirked as he offered her his hand so she could stand up.

"Don't tease Harry I might just let you do that if you keep talking about it." She "accidentally" fell into him as he helped her up. They both cleared their minds and prepared to act like they were expected.

The walk back was filled with more attitude and impersonal questions. By the time they reached the castle Harry decided he should set a time to meet her again.

"Fleur I enjoyed our walk, maybe we could spend some more time together. Tomorrow night I'll be spending time in the library doing a little side research while my friends finish their homework. Perhaps I could introduce you to them if you'd like to join us."

Fleur pretended to think it over for a moment before responding. " I suppose that would be okay, may I bring my sister? She is only a third year and she could probably benefit from having some older students help her."

Harry smirked, Draco would be so happy. "Certainly, oh and just remember not to bring your pet lions. We snakes don't appreciate their company." With that last comment Harry walked off towards the dungeons feeling better than he had since Fleur had arrived.

**DUMBLEDORE POV**

He had watched the events unfold just like all the rest of the staff. To anyone who wasn't watching it would have seemed that Mr. Potter just had excellent timing on his rescue of Ms. Delacour. But thankfully he had many years and a lot of experience to show him otherwise. He had seen the Malfoy boy post up and wait for his target to arrive. He had seen as Potter dropped his charm and grabbed the girl. The "rogue" spell that Mr. Malfoy had fired intentionally at the girl. Everything was carefully and precisely carried out to make sure that Ms. Delacour and Mr. Potter got away. He had sent Severus to break up the fight while he slipped out the side teachers' door. He had called for Fawkes and had the bird bring him to his tower. It provided the perfect view of the grounds. He had watched as the two took off at a run across the grounds. He had seen them slow down, and then the Potter boy looked around like he could sense someone's eyes on him. He had retreated from the window momentarily not sure just how good the boy's vision was. He watched the two for any sign that they were up to something until the trees had blocked his view. The whole time though the two never got close or laughed. It appeared that his initial suspicion that they had known each other was unfounded. This was not how people who had known each other for a while acted.

With a sigh he drew back from the window disappointed in his lack of discovery. With a quick tempus he noticed that he had just enough time to catch the end of the meal. He called for Fawkes again and with one last look out the window he disappeared in a burst of fire.

**END DUMBLEDORE POV**

Harry walked into Snape's classroom the next day with his usual confidence. He had made sure to show up extra early and position himself in the seat right in front of the door. That way Longbottom would have to look right at him as soon as the door opened. It was petty of him, but he was really hoping to get a rise out of the boy. Gryffindors losing points and earning detentions would only make this day that much better.

Of his friends only Draco knew why he was in such a good mood. Harry wasn't sure how they had managed to avoid losing house points for the display the previous afternoon, but somehow Snape had gotten Draco out of trouble. Between that and Harry telling him that Gabby would be joining them tonight for their study session was enough to put Draco in a good mood rivaling that of Harry's.

Anyone who knew them would have thought it weird for one to be smiling so openly, but for the both of them to be grinning from ear to ear it meant something big. Pansy had pestered Draco all throughout breakfast to tell her what had him so happy, but the boy had adamantly refused. Even Blaise and Daphne had piped up trying to get him to spill. Tracey and Millicent hadn't said anything but Harry swore he caught Tracey glancing back and forth between him and Fleur on multiple occasions.

On his way out of breakfast he made sure to wave and smile at Fleur while she was sitting with the Gryffindors. Weasley had scowled and thrown the bird which earned him a scolding from Granger, Longbottom had just glared, but Fleur had waved back. Harry had almost thought about cancelling his revenge since he already had stopped Longbottom's chance of getting with Fleur, but he had already gone through so much planning there was no reason to cancel now.

Now the boy was going to be subjected to seeing Harry again. It would just serve as a nice reminder that he couldn't escape him.

As predictable as always Longbottom and Weasley came through the door right before the bell. Harry got the desired reaction as the boy spotted him looking back at him.

"Potter! I don't know what you're playing at but you stay away from her. She doesn't need your dark influence!" Harry didn't even get a chance to respond because Snape chose that moment to enter the room.

Harry swore that sometimes the man was just waiting behind the door for the perfect opportunity to enter.

"Yelling at another student Mr. Longbottom? That'll be 10 points form Gryffindor, and you Weasley, didn't think to stop him; that will be another ten points from Gryffindor. Now take your seats so I can start my class." He waited until the two had dropped into the only available desk. "Now open your books to page 342 and begin looking over the potion there. Your instructions to follow are on the board as always. You will have two hours to complete this potion. Begin."

Harry watched as Snape sat down and began leafing through a stack of papers he had been holding. No doubt that he was grading more first year assignments as that was the man's next class. The man nodded slightly when he caught sight of Harry gazing at him, answering the unstated question.

Harry looked over what they would need for the potion quickly and then wrote them down and gave Goyle the list so he could gather them. Harry started to preheat his cauldron as called for. The assignment for today was an advanced burn cream. It was meant to treat only severe burns from things like dragons, fiendfyre, etc… It would be something Harry definitely wanted samples of.

Like normal he put Goyle in charge of small things and the boy never complained. He was a diligent worker when he was told exactly what to do. Harry had just finished mashing his dittany roots into a paste and was adding it into the boiling water. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a hand lash out and something went flying through the air. He didn't have a chance to warn Draco as the object splashed into the boy's cauldron. A loud fizzing was heard and knowing there was no time to move Harry cast a shield in front of Draco and Crabbe to try and shield them as best he could. It came a moment too late to stop the full explosion but the two were saved from the worst of it thanks to his quick thinking.

Snape stood up from his desk practically foaming at the mouth. "WHO THREW THAT? WHICH ONE OF YOU MORONS NEARLY KILLED TWO STUDENTS?! GREENGRASS, ZABINI GET THOSE TWO TO THE HOSPITAL WING NOW!" The two students didn't hesitate as they shot out of their chairs and grabbed the two boys and helped guide them out of the door. Snape took a few deep breaths to calm himself so he was no longer screaming, but his voice still shook with anger. "Who did it?" The question was barely above a whisper but everyone heard it. For a long few moments no one moved or dared look around. Harry had expected to see Weasley or Longbottom stick their hand into the air smugly. To his shock though it was Granger who finally raised her hand.

"Ms. Granger you will be serving detention with me for the next month. Also 100 points from Gryffindor for your actions. Next time I will push to have you expelled. Continue your work now; you only have an hour left thanks to Ms. Granger's selfish actions."

Something didn't sit right with Harry when Granger admitted she had thrown whatever it had been that caused that reaction. She wasn't the type of person to do that, it was more of Weasley or Longbottom's style. But even when he looked at the ladder two they seemed genuinely surprised at what had happened. He knew something wasn't right about the situation he just couldn't place what exactly.

The rest of the class was more subdued than usual and passed with no more incidents. When the bell rang the class was dismissed, but Harry told his friends to go ahead since he needed to speak to Professor Snape. It was only a few minutes later when a small Slytherin first year came wandering into the room. He had been told to meet Professor Snape in the classroom now. He knew what he was supposed to do he just hoped he didn't mess it up. He only had to make it through one class and it was History but who knew what could happen between now and two hours later.

He was handed the flask and instructed to drink it now and then slightly before halfway through the history lesson. That would be enough to last him for the period. Harry watched as the boy did as he was told and soon an exact copy of himself was staring back at him.

"Go now, and do as little talking as possible. If anyone asks you what I stayed back to talk to Professor Snape about simply shake your head and say later." The new Harry nodded his head and turned to walk out of the room. The original Harry followed behind him disillusioned so that he could safely exit without arousing suspicion. He quickly ascended the stairs to get to the landing where he knew the Gryffindor common room entrance was located. He knew that in a matter of minutes a Gryffindor 6th year by the name of Katie Bell would be leaving for her Herbology class.

Just as he expected three minutes later the portrait swung open and he was sliding in past the girl as she stepped out. He had in his bag the only supplies he would need, and if all went well he would be out of the Gryffindors area well before his history period ended.

He climbed up the stairs to the boy's side and quickly located the door to the 4th year boys' room. Once inside finding Longbottom's bed was slightly trickier, but eventually he was able to find a trunk with the boy's name on the side of it.

Doing one more quick sweep of the room to make sure no one else was present he dropped his charm and then locked the door with a flick of his wand. It would at least by him a little time if someone tried to drop in unexpectedly.

Wasting no time getting to work he flipped Longbottom's mattress off the bed and pulled out the mold of the runes he was using. He had chosen to combine one for sticking and heating. The sticking rune was modified so that it would only work for the person who is was keyed to though. Harry had managed to snag a strand of hair from Longbottom's mattress and was planning on using that to activate the rune. Carefully he used his wand to position the mold and hold it in place. He then made the cuts into the mattress. When he pulled it back the rune was perfectly cut into the underside. He held his wand to it and filtered a little magic into it like they had been taught to do to activate the runes. He was almost done now. With a couple of serpensortias he had about eight snakes on the floor hissing at him.

He gave them a few orders and they quickly obeyed. He had told them not to harm the boy in any way and not to leave this one bed. They agreed when they felt the warmth from the rune. He had instructed one snake to be in charge of Longbottom's hair. Once the boy was lying down comfortably it was to slide to the rune and place the hair onto it. Then the fun would start. Harry wished he could have tied a silencing rune into his chain, but tying together more than two runes was a lot more difficult. He had barely managed to get the two done on time. To make up for it though he cast a silencing spell on the bed. It wouldn't last nearly as long as the rune would, but it should last until well into the night when Longbottom had already screamed himself hoarse.

With one final look to make sure nothing looked out of the ordinary he gathered up his bag and disillusioned himself. He told the snakes to hide under the mattress until the rune was fully activated. It wouldn't do any good for the boy to discover them before he was stuck. Doing a quick check under the door to make sure no one was outside Harry undid his locking charm and stepped out. Since it was the middle of the day with classes still going on there was no in the common room. He exited the portrait hole and ignored the questioning shouts coming from the fat lady. He didn't drop his disillusionment charm until he was in the hidden alcove covered by a tapestry near the history classroom. He had arranged to meet his double here as soon as the class was done. Having nothing else better to do at the moment he pulled out one of his books and began to read. It would still be another forty minutes or so until he could walk around as himself.

As soon as they had finished dinner Harry and his friends got up and started to head for the library. Harry told them he would be right there he was just going to grab Fleur since he had invited her. He received more than a few raised eyebrows at that, but no one said anything.

She saw him as he started out and got up to meet him. She tapped Gabby on the shoulder telling her to come along. Harry stopped and waited for the two girls to reach him, there was no point for him walking down there just to turn around.

"Hello Fleur and you must be Gabby." Harry greeted the girls as they joined him. For the most part everyone's eyes were on him. He could hear whispers of "I can't believe it, how could she go for him…" and "I told you they'd wind up…" coming from all the tables. He smirked at how easily people drew conclusions, even if they weren't true.

"Hi Harry, you would be correct this is my sister." The little girl who Fleur must have told the plan to smiled shyly at him while saying hello.

"Well the library is on the 5th floor so we've got a bit of a walk."

"This is no problem I do not mind walking." Fleur shot back at him. The group of three passed the walk with small conversation about how their days had been. Once they entered the library Harry spotted his group of friends easily since the rest of the library was almost empty since dinner was still going on.

"Fleur, Gabby these are my friends. That blonde ponce is Draco Malfoy, those two there are Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini, the dark haired girl there is Pansy Parkinson to her right is Millicent Bulstrode, and to her left is Tracey Davis. This book worm here who hasn't looked up yet is Theodore Nott."

"Hello everyone I'm Fleur Delacour and this is my sister Gabrielle. Harry invited me to study with him and I thought maybe you would be willingly to help Gabby since she is only a third year."

To everyone's surprise, except Harry, it was Draco who volunteered to help the younger girl. She blushed as he practically jumped at the chance to help her. She graciously took the seat next to him and they began talking in quiet tones.

Harry and Fleur sat down at the end of the table. Theo was immediately to his left and Fleur was on his right conveniently next to Tracey.

Tracey never being one to miss an opportunity to try and catch him up began with the questions right away.

"So Fleur how did you meet Harry here? He's not one to go out of his way to make new friends."

Everyone except Draco and Gabby was now paying attention to the girl all equally curious as to how the two had met.

"Well actually your friend Draco and Ron Weasley had gotten in an argument and Harry pulled me out of the way of a stray spell. After that we took a short walk around the lake and he invited me to come study so long as I didn't bring any "pet lions" with me."

Tracey raised an eyebrow at Harry, "Oh really? Jumping in the path of a spell to save another…seems pretty chivalrous of you there Harry. Are you sure you weren't meant to be a Gryffindor?" Harry scowled at her while their friends laughed.

Blaise was next to question her, though he was more interested about her school and classes. It was something she and Harry had talked about for a little, but never in depth. The core curriculum was the same, but Beauxbaxtons offered more electives to choose once they hit their third year.

Unlike Hogwarts they didn't have houses they were sorted into instead it was merely by grade. Each grade level had one large common room and then separate dorms for boys and girls. It meant none of this silly house rivalry in Fleur's opinion. Draco had finally piped in at that insisting that the house rivalry was only in Hogwarts because there needed to be a way to distinguish the excellent students (he made a sweeping motion with his hands to include everyone at the table) and the rest of the population.

"So you are implying that Slytherin is the house for the intelligent wizards and witches?" Fleur asked genuinely curious.

Draco shook his head though, "No the intelligent ones go to Ravenclaw, but there flaw is that their thirst for knowledge rules their lives. Slytherins are smart and cunning. We may not have as much knowledge as a Ravenclaw, but we know how to apply the knowledge we have to gain the most out of a situation."

Fleur nodded her head as she comprehended what he had told her. The rest of the time was spent with Fleur talking about her school life and home life. Harry's friends were surprised to find out she was a veela since none of them really felt effected. That news had shocked Fleur the most.

"None of you feel effected by my charm?" She was met by a bunch of shaking heads. "How can that be though, surely you must feel it slightly. I cannot even speak to most of the other people in this school without them drooling."

Theo concentrated hard for a second before he spoke. It was one of the few times he had all night, but as usual it was very insightful. "If I focus hard I can feel something drawing me towards you, but it's not overpowering since I have some basic occlumency and a strong will. With you only being a quarter veela the charm isn't all that hard to throw off for anyone with a strong mind."

At a little before eight the group had decided to call it quits for the night. Everyone had said goodnight to Fleur and Gabby and told them they were welcome to study with them any time. It made the two girls happy to know they had been approved of by so many new people. Draco had offered to walk Gabby back to the carriage where the girls were staying if she wanted. After a pleading look at Fleur the two had left the library together.

Harry and Fleur waited for a few minutes to give the two a head start and some privacy. Harry was walking Fleur back because he didn't trust the population of guys in the school not to try something stupid while under her charm. She greatly appreciated the gesture and for effect asked if it would be okay if she hugged him goodnight. After a moment hesitation Harry nodded and quickly embraced the girl. She turned around once she had reached the door to wave goodbye but found the boy had already disappeared into the night. She shook her head at the fact that Harry Potter had many secrets and was a mystery she would most likely spend a long time figuring out.

**Gryffindor Tower**

"How could she just run off with those snakes!? Not only that, but then she goes and brings her sister around them to." Neville was pacing back and forth in front of the couch that Ron and Hermione were currently sitting on.

Ron seemed to be getting annoyed quickly by the pacing. "Come off it mate, maybe she just likes Potter you can't have everything."

Already in a bad mood from the day's events Ron's comment made him flip. "Ron for once could you stop trying to imply that I have the perfect life?! In case you forgot in order for me to have this fame and respect my parents had to DIE! I'll tell you what Ron; you want the fame that comes with being the boy-who-lived then you can have it, but you have to give up your whole family!"

By now the whole common room had stopped what they were doing and was watching the scene unfold. Hermione had tried to stop Ron from getting up, but the boy shrugged her off and got in Neville's face.

"It's not your fame! It's the fact that you don't share it! When have you ever gone out of your way to help me? It's always about you! Just once I'd like for you to share the fame and tell people about what I did."

Neville couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you kidding Ron? What have I done for you? Is that all you care about from our friendship is what can you gain from it? You sound exactly like the Slytherins right now." He hadn't meant to say it, but after it was out he couldn't take it back. There was a sharp intake of breath from the couch where Hermione was seated and the rest of the room was deathly quiet.

Ron seemed at a loss for words in his anger. Then suddenly he calmed down and spoke. "Fine if that's what you really think of me then maybe I should find a new best friend, one who will really appreciate me." Ron grabbed his book and took off in the direction of the portrait hole. Hermione looked torn but a nod from Neville sent her following after the red head.

Once the two were gone he sighed and started gathering his things up. He hadn't meant to blow up on his friend, but the boy was being so petty and he just couldn't understand why. If there was anyone Ron should be jealous of it would be Potter. He had everything that Ron had always wanted; power, money, fame, and even a beautiful girl now. He started walking up the stairs thinking Harry Potter truly did leave a blessed life. Sure he worked hard, but that didn't mean he deserved to have all of the good luck.

He was the only one in the dorm when he got there, but he didn't mind. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with the others at the moment. He showered off and brushed his teeth before throwing on a pair of boxers to go to sleep. He climbed into his bed and noticed that the mattress was slightly warmer than usual. It almost felt like someone had been lying in it very recently. After a few moments of examining it and not finding anything wrong he shut the curtains around his bed and laid down. He went to grab for the blankets when he found he was unable to move his arms. Suddenly panic set in and he tried to flail and get out of the bed. His attempts were in vain though as his legs were stuck to the mattress as well. The only thing not stuck was his head which had been on his pillow and not the mattress. His fear only escalated when he felt something move and tickle his foot. Then he felt something _slither_ across his leg. He screamed out loud when a four foot long black snake emerged from the covers.

He kept yelling as more and more suddenly started to crawl out from his mattress. He thought he was saved when he heard the door to the dorm open. He started screaming at the top of his lungs hoping whoever was coming in would save him. They never came though, and he was left to hope that Ron would come to his senses soon and try and apologize. It looked like that was going to be his only way out of this mess.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N ALTERED ENDING TO THE CHAPTER DUE TO POPULAR DISLIKE OF THE LAST

**Staff Room**

Dumbledore let his eyes wander around the room lightly scanning the surface thoughts of all his professors. It was a practice he had adapted long ago so that he could mentally prepare himself for any "shocking" news they might have to tell him. He wanted to always appear that he knew what was happening in the school and this was just one of the many ways he kept that façade up. He knew about most of the large things that happened, but some smaller inter house problems would sometimes escape his notice. After another ten minutes of letting everyone prepare what they had to say he called for the room to be silent.

"Good afternoon everyone. I hope everyone has been well and in good health since the last time we met. Now to start off our meeting let us discuss how students have been getting along from the different schools."

Professor Flitwick was the first one to speak up, "Well for the most part I believe the students have been getting along quite nicely. There have been a few isolated issues, mostly between the male students trying to hit on some of the Beauxbaxton girls. Even in these rare cases though there was never any major damage caused to anyone."

The rest of the professors nodded or mumbled their agreement with the short man's description of the relations between the schools.

Dumbledore locked his fingers together and steeped them so he could rest his chin while looking thoughtfully at the people gathered around him.

"That is all well and good, but surely there has to be some people who are trying to cross school lines? That was what this tournament is meant to do after all. We are trying to encourage friendship. Are you to tell me no one has tried this yet?"

For a long minute everyone was silent and just as Dumbledore was about to sigh and continue on Snape spoke.

"Actually some of my fourth year Slytherins have been seen a couple of times in the library with the Delacour girls. From what Madam Pince has told me they all get along quite well and are genuinely friendly. Strange is it not, that the house most discriminated against is the only one with students trying to reach out and make new friendships."

Dumbledore's eyes bore into Snape's skull desperately wanting to know what was going on in the man's mind, but realizing he had no chance against the man's shields without being very overt.

"That is good news Severus; hopefully other students will hear or see this and realize it is okay to talk to other students. Now onto other matters. How are the first years adapting to their new lifestyle and being away from home?"

One by one the heads of house took turns describing their newest students and how each was doing so far. There wasn't anyone of any exceptional talent that they had noticed as of yet, but the majority of the first years were about average in their aptitude with spells. As usual Snape reported that they were all dunderheads and showed no skill in the art of brewing.

"I even had to provide one of my own Slytherins with extra lessons the other day. The boy was abysmal but I feel now that he might be able to survive the next potions lesson without blowing up his cauldron."

Everyone stared in shock, it was very, very rare that Snape talked down about one of his own students. They were all wondering just how hopeless the young man must be to get a reaction like that from his Head of House.

After a few more minutes of discussion about how the first years were doing the topic changed again. This time they were discussing their 5th and 7th years as they would be taking their OWLs and NEWTs respectively. Each teacher laid out his or her plan on how to adequately cover the necessary material before the end of the year and the exams. Everyone offered friendly advice on how each lesson could be tweaked. The only one who didn't receive advice was Snape, as they all knew he wouldn't change his teaching style anyway.

Once that was settled Dumbledore called for quiet again.

"We have one more thing to discuss before I adjourn this meeting. As I'm sure all of you have heard someone played a vicious prank on Mr. Longbottom a few days ago. In case you do not know what happened or have not received an accurate tale of the events I will tell you what happened. Mr. Longbottom had just got done having a heated argument with his friend Ron Weasley. The boy stormed up the stairs to his dorm. He prepared himself for bed and soon crawled into his four poster. He shut his curtains and adjusted himself on the bed; however when he went to reach for his blanket he realized he could not move. Somehow he had been frozen to his bed; now this would not have been so bad on its own. However the perpetrator of this prank took it one step further. A multitude of snakes were conjured and released into the bed where they were stuck. The final part of this involved a silencing charm on the bed so that no one would be able to hear Mr. Longbottom screams for help until the charm finally wore off somewhere at around four in the morning. It took a few hours to free Mr. Longbottom since the charms used were appearing resistant to my attempts to remove them."

Some of the teachers who believed Dumbledore to be the strongest wizard they knew gasped at this revelation. McGonagall asked the question that the rest of them were wondering,

"Why couldn't you dispel the charms Albus?"

"Well it was really an error on my part. I assumed it had been regular spells used. Imagine my surprise when I finally was able to detect the source of the magic. On the underside of the bed was a combination rune carved into the mattress. It allowed for it to remain heated, supposedly to keep the snakes content with not leaving the mattress as well as a sticking charm which was activated by a piece of hair from Mr. Longbottom. It was an elaborate prank which requires skills that only 4th years and above would possess. On top of that it would only be the ones who take runes who would be able to pull this off. We have a small list of suspects, but as of right now almost all of them have alibis."

Sprout spoke up once the headmaster had finished speaking. "Surely you have someone you suspect is responsible Albus? Perhaps we could check to see who missed classes on that day."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly before speaking once more. "I have already looked into this. My prime suspect was Mr. Potter," seeing Snape scowl out of the corner of his eye he hurried on, "This was not just because Mr. Potter is a Slytherin, but it is well known that he and Mr. Longbottom do not and have not ever gotten along. So naturally I went to check and see if the boy had missed class. He did not and in fact there were many people willing to stand up for him and reaffirm that he was indeed in class all day. Then I checked to see if he had missed any meals and again he was present at all of them. There was simply no way he could have gotten into the Gryffindor common room and set this up without missing a class or a meal. As of right now we have no one to accuse, but I ask that you keep an ear out for any information that may lead us to finding the person responsible so they can be punished accordingly."

The professors all said they would do what they could to help find the culprit and then the meeting was dismissed. Everyone was leaving but Dumbledore asked for Snape to stay back. Snape rolled his eyes as he already knew what was coming.

Once everyone had left the room Snape addressed the man. "Yes Headmaster, how may I help you today?"

Dumbledore just smiled at the man either not noticing or choosing to ignore his bored and annoyed tone. "Come Severus there is no need to be so formal; we are friends after all my boy. I merely wanted to ask you if you had any idea how Mr. Potter might have pulled off this prank."

Snape raised one eyebrow as if questioning the Headmaster's sanity before opening his mouth. "Didn't you just say the boy didn't miss any classes or meals and couldn't have possibly been responsible?"

Dumbledore frowned but answered nonetheless. "Yes I did, however you know as well as I do that he is one of the very few students who can and would want to do something so terrible. So I ask again have you heard anything about how he might have done this?"

Snape was very annoyed and for once made no effort to hide it. "Headmaster I resent your accusations on my student when it is obvious he didn't do it. Furthermore I feel you are blinded by your apparent care for the Longbottom child. There are quite a few people in this school who would wish to claim responsibility for what happened to him. Now if you have no other questions may I be excused?"

Dumbledore sighed but nodded his to allow the man to leave. It seemed like he would just have to hope that the boy fouled up and left a trail to follow somewhere.

**NEVILLE POV**

It had been almost a week since he had been stuck to his bed with all those snakes, but he still didn't feel safe without checking his bed every time. The worst part is he realized after he had finally been found that he could have used his parseltongue to possibly ask the creatures to leave. At the time he had been so captured by his fear he couldn't think of anything besides screaming himself hoarse for hours.

He had thought that once he got free they would have been able to track down who did this to him, but still there had been no progress in finding who did it. Well that wasn't entirely true… Neville knew in his heart who did it. The problem lay in that Harry Potter had many witnesses to show he had been everywhere he was supposed to have been that day. He would never have been able to sneak off and set up the prank. Yet somehow the boy had managed the impossible. So now everyday he was forced to watch Potter walk around with his normal confidence and smirk. It was like the boy was just rubbing it in his face that he couldn't prove anything.

The only thing good that had come out of the event was that Fleur now seemed upset with Potter about something, which only furthered his suspicion. Perhaps the boy had bragged to her about what he had done and the girl was so repulsed by it so she was avoiding him. Whatever the reason he was glad that it seemed the girl had come to her senses. He had planned on waiting to invite Fleur to the ball, but since his biggest competition was currently on her bad side he was going to take the opportunity.

Not only was he going to ask her, he was going to make sure Potter was right there so he could hear it when she said yes. That would finally wipe the smirk off his face.

Neville watched as Potter finished his meal and said goodbye to his friends. The boy didn't often travel alone, but when he did it usually meant he was doing something important. So now was the perfect chance. He could not only upset Potter, but possibly ruin his concentration for whatever the boy was planning to do.

"Fleur do you want to go for a walk? We have some time to kill before class and I figured since the weather is nice maybe we could walk around the grounds a bit."

Fleur seemed to think about it for a moment before she nodded her head. "It is such a nice day it would be a shame to miss out on an opportunity to bask in the sunlight."

Neville smiled at her and stood up and offered her his arm. She laughed as she took it and the two began to walk towards the door. Thankfully they were a lot closer than the Slytherin table so he would be able to get out of the doors and get in position to ask Fleur before Potter was out of the area.

Once they walked out of the hall Neville turned around. "Hold on Fleur there is actually something I wanted to ask you. No one knows about this yet, but since I'm close to Dumbledore he let me in on a secret. There is going to be a ball this year to go with the tournament and I was hoping you would do me the honor of being my date." He said the last part just as Potter walked out of the door. The boy came to a sudden halt and his eyes immediately locked onto Neville's. Neville kept his expression though as to not give away that someone was watching what was happening. It was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be though since the only thing he could see in Potter's eyes was a swirl of hate. For a split second he regretted his decision to get in between Potter and Fleur, but only until she spoke.

"Sure Neville I'd love to go with you, but only as friends. I'm afraid I'm not looking for a boyfriend at the moment." Neville's heart dropped at the mention of going as just friends but it was better than being rejected all together.

"Alright that's great! I'm so happy you said yes. Now how about we go for that walk?" He offered her his arm again and the two walked out of the castle onto the grounds. One not knowing that she had hurt the one boy who meant the most to her and the other fighting the urge to turn around and stick his tongue out.

**END NEVILLE POV**

While his expression and body language may have shown an indifference to what had just happened, his mind was screaming for blood. Inside him his emotions were begging him to unleash his hate on Longbottom. To use every dark curse known to man on the boy until he begged for death.

He wasn't stupid he knew Longbottom had planned it out so that he would be there to see that. He also knew Fleur hadn't seen him. Perhaps he should have called out and gotten her attention, to let her know she was being used again, but he had assumed she would have turned the boy down. Obviously he was wrong in that assessment.

Things had been strained between him and Fleur since he had put the snakes in Longbottom's bed. He hadn't told anyone about what he'd done, but somehow Fleur had known. She had never accused him of it, but she had become distant and just frowned at him whenever he tried to make eye contact. She and Gabby still came to study with them, but anytime he would ask her something she would answer curtly and avoid any chance of a conversation.

It hurt him to know that she was avoiding him and shunning him for what he had done. He didn't want to seem weak though so he kept pretending like it didn't bother him, in fact he had started to blatantly flirt with Tracey to try and provoke Fleur. A few times it had seemed to work and the girl looked like she had just wanted to yell and scream at him. He would have taken that at this point. All he really wanted was to have his friend back. The two were close and he didn't realize how big of an impact she already had on his life.

So now Harry was left deciding what to do about his situation. He had planned on asking Fleur to the ball, but obviously that was out of the question. He knew he could ask Tracey, but he didn't want to risk leading his friend on and hurting her in the process. There were a lot of things he would do for revenge, but blatantly using and hurting one of his true friends was not one of them.

It was a possibility of not going at all. That had the adverse effect of making it look like Longbottom had really gotten to him though. He refused to let the boy think he was that affected by what he had done. So that was completely out of the question, he would have to attend the ball.

He turned around to look back into the great hall. He would need to find someone who was as attractive or more attractive than Fleur but wasn't a close friend of his. It would be the only way for him to feel at all comfortable in going. Finding a girl like that was a lot easier said than done though, Fleur was naturally one of the most beautiful girls currently in the school.

He sighed not seeing anyone on his first few glances that would do. He decided to think about it while he did some of his homework. Perhaps he would be able to write to Sirius and ask the man for some advice on the issue. His prankster Godfather would surely be able to offer something worthwhile. With a newfound hope for inspiration he set his emotionless mask back onto his face and strode off towards his room to set to work.

**FLEUR POV**

She had been enjoying her lunch when Neville had turned and asked her to go for a walk. Initially she had wanted to say no for a few reasons. One was that she hadn't wanted to lead the boy on, and two she really was quite hungry. She lost her resolved though when she looked up and saw how hopeful the boy looked. So she had given in and allowed him to escort her out.

She thought she had seen Harry get up to leave out of the corner of her eye, but she was adamantly trying to ignore him. Although he hadn't been held responsible she knew it was Harry who had trapped Neville in his bed. She had heard the professors and students say that it couldn't have been him since he had been out in the open all day, but that is what made her so suspicious. On any normal day Harry made himself as scarce as possible, but the day it had happened he was everywhere.

She knew that Harry and Neville had a problem with each other, but up until then she hadn't really caught the full depth of their dislike for each other. Neville could have been seriously hurt by one of those snakes and no one would have known, and Harry just went on with each day like it didn't matter to him. She wanted to go up and confront him about it, to find out if he felt any regret about what he'd done but every time she looked at him she just got upset.

A couple of times he had tried baiting her into an argument by flirting with that friend of his, Tracey. The girl was nice enough and she knew that it was someone Harry had probably been involved with which bothered her more than she cared to admit. It wasn't that she hated him, no quite the contrary she was still head over heels for the boy, but she wanted to know that he had some emotions or could feel remorse or guilt.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Neville stopped in front of her. She was only partially listening, but she caught the gist of what he was saying. Apparently there was a ball of some sorts and the boy wanted to invite her. She must have missed the announcement for that at some point. She stopped herself from immediately saying no and telling the boy she would be going with Harry. If they had actually announced it, then why hadn't Harry already asked her? It would have been the perfect opportunity for them to reconcile with each other. _Well if he isn't going to man up then…_

And before she could stop herself she had agreed to go with the boy. Granted it was only as friends, but she had still said yes. Almost immediately she regretted it but was determined to make the best of the situation now. She put on her best smile and grabbed hold of Neville's arm as he lead her out onto the grounds.

**END FLEUR POV**

Sweat beads rolled off of Harry's forehead as he stopped to rest for a moment. The sound of the drops hitting the floor echoed off the stone walls of the chamber. His breathing was heavy but even. He had been doing some heavy spell casting. He wanted to make sure he wasn't losing any power with his darker spells, but in the process he had been pumping some large amounts of magic into them. He was starting to feel the drain now but wasn't too worried about it. He had Twink present and watching him just in case anything was to go astray after all.

He held up three fingers at Twink who snapped his fingers and suddenly three wooden dummies appeared in the chamber about ten meters away from where Harry currently stood.

He pointed his wand at the first and concentrated on his spell. It was one he hadn't attempted before, but wasn't supposed to be very complicated. With a quick horizontal slash across the body from left to right he said the incantation, "Caputitis!"

He smiled as the sense of euphoria spread over his body and made him feel calm. A white beam shot from his wand and flattened out until it was nearly parchment thin. The spell hit the dummy square in the chest and for a moment it seemed to fizzle out. Then out of nowhere the dummy's wooden neck splintered as a long gash started to cut its way through. In a matter of seconds it was all over and the dummy's head was now lying on the floor.

"Well that certainly will be a very messy spell." Harry mumbled to himself as he looked at the damage done. The cut through the neck wasn't the straight clean cut he had expected it was much more jagged and looked like a blunt object had been forced through to cause the wound.

Turning to the next dummy he continued on with his spells. He had to stick to the ones that actually caused physical damage since he wouldn't be able to judge the effects of the ones that damaged the mind. His cycle continued on for at least an hour more as he had Twink make more and more dummies.

He cast a tempus and realized he only had 10 minutes until he was supposed to meet Snape for his lesson.

"Shit! Twink I need you to bring me to my room please." The elf grabbed his arm and suddenly Harry felt himself being compressed and then it was over. He was standing in his room with all pieces of himself intact. He thanked his elf and cast a quick scourgify on himself before checking to make sure the corridor was clear and then walking as fast as he could to get to the classroom.

He made it there with just a minute to spare. He gave three solid knocks on the door and waited for the customary "Come in" before entering the room.

There was something off though when the command did come. It didn't sound as far away as usual. Normally Snape would be sitting at his desk in the front of the room, but this time it sounded as if he was a lot closer, somewhere near the back of the classroom.

Harry looked around to make sure no one was around to see what he was about to do. He pulled off his cloak and cautiously opened the door. He held the cloak out in front of him and hit it with a banisher to shoot it into the room. As he expected multiple spells came careening towards the cloak. He took the momentary advantage from his distraction to push into the room firing off some stunning spells and a few cutting curses in the direction he had seen the spells come from.

He flicked his wand at the door to shut it and lock it so that they wouldn't be interrupted. Snape had managed to dodge the few spells he had sent at him and was now retaliating with full force. He barely had time to spin out of the way as a disarming charm splashed into the wall behind him. Coming out of the spin Harry was back on the offensive.

"Protego! Confringo! Secar! Volo!"

His shield absorbed what looked like a stunning spell and gave him a chance to fire back. He watched as the desk in front of him shot into the air to absorb a blasting curse. Unfortunately he was too close to block most of the frag from the resulting explosion. He shielded his eyes, but it left him open to being struck in the torso. One particularly large chunk struck him right below his lung and pierced his skin. The pain caused him to wince and miss the flash of light that collided with his leg.

A resounding crack was heard as his leg broke and he fell into a heap on the ground. Before he could do anything Snape was over top of him with his wand out. He thought his professor was about to heal him and berate him for getting beat, but to his surprise the man smiled cruelly at him.

"Legilems!" He couldn't believe his luck. All he wanted to do was get healed and relax, but now he was going to have to fight off a mind invasion to. That's when it struck him what today's lesson was all about.

He focused on his mind and started to fight the probing sensation in his skull. It had come awfully close to getting into some of his memories and that was just not going to do. With one final push he expelled his head of house and then for good measure cast a wandless disarming charm at him. Caught off guard by the spell Snape was knocked over backwards onto the stone floor.

Harry couldn't help himself at that point. He let out a small laugh as the man fell over. He quickly stopped though as Snape was once again over him glowering.

"Now do I have to explain what I was trying to teach you or were you smart enough to figure it out?"

Harry smiled at the man, "Up until now I've only had my shields tested in ideal conditions. By that I mean there was no fatigue or pain. I could focus all my efforts on repelling you. In this case you almost got into my memories because I was so focused on the pain in my leg and the bleeding in my chest."

Snape nodded once before he set to work healing Harry. Once that was settled the two took up their usual spots with Harry sitting perched on top of one of the front row desks and Snape sitting at his personal desk.

"Now you did well by managing to keep me from memories even while you were distracted, but I also wasn't using my full capabilities. I wanted to give you a short span of time to realize what was happening. You did exactly that proving to me you are indeed capable of continuing on with these lessons."

Harry nodded at the veiled praise he was receiving from his head of house. It was rare for the man to tell anyone they had done well so this was something he wouldn't take lightly.

"Let us talk about your dueling skills though. Honestly I expected more from you, seeing as you are a dueling champion now." The last bit was said with a hint of sarcasm and skepticism. "You did well in recognizing there was a possible threat waiting for you on the other side of the door. I admit you caught me by surprise when you banished your cloak in first. I barely managed to get a shield up in time to stop the first few stunning spells you sent at me. Instead of pressing your advantage though you distracted yourself with the door. If this had been a real threat it could have cost you your life. Remember not to let anything distract you from your target, especially when you have an advantage over them. On your next opportunity you did well shielding to give yourself an opportunity to attack. Your use of volo caught me off guard as well. Perhaps you could enlighten me as to where you learned that spell since I know it is not taught in any Hogwarts class, though I am at a loss as to why."

Harry knew that was true, Quirrell had told him that. Volo was just another form of the levitating charm but the incantation was much shorter and proved to be more useful in a dueling environment. Wingardium Leviosa allowed for more control and power, but Volo was faster and more convenient.

"I learned it in first year sir." Harry saw no reason to elaborate as to how or from whom he had learned the spell. Snape was more than aware of just who would have taught him anything advanced during that year.

"I see." There was a long pause where Snape seemed to be having an internal debate before speaking, "Tell me Mr. Potter what do you know about the…unfortunate…events that happened to Mr. Longbottom last week?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at the man. His head of house was the last person he had expected to question him about this. Especially since the man knew the truth of what had happened. "Professor I assume I know exactly what all the other students do. Someone either in Gryffindor or closely associated enough with them to get in their tower managed to get Longbottom stuck to his bed with a bunch of snakes." It killed Harry to down play all the hard work he had put into making sure everyone worked perfectly, but it was necessary. He knew Snape had a reason for almost everything he did and assumed this was one of the times where it was just best to play along.

"So you have no idea as to who could possibly be behind this?" Snape asked him.

"None at all sir. I know it wasn't any of the Slytherins from my year though. We were all studying together that night. If you need to check that out I'm sure Madam Pince would be more than happy to tell you we were there almost all night until curfew."

Snape shook his head as he replied," That won't be necessary Mr. Potter I already checked with Madam Pince. I merely needed to make sure her events matched yours. Now hold on one second."

Harry watched with interest as Snape put the tip of his wand to his head and his face scrunched in concentration. After a few moments he pulled the wand back and a long thin silvery thread came with it. Professor Snape pulled a vial from his robes and placed the memory in it. He then gently sat the vial on the desk before looking at Harry again.

"Now undoubtedly you are curious as to what that was about."

"I have to admit I am curious professor but I knew it wasn't my place to question your actions or judgments so I wisely kept quiet."

Snape smirked at his favorite student," Mr. Potter it truly amazes me the amount of proper respect you show and your impeccable manners. If I didn't know what I did about you I would swear you were the nicest student in this school. However this is information that pertains to you so I see no foul in letting you know. The headmaster has asked me to try and find out if you were involved, now I have a memory of me asking you that I can present to him. It gives both of us plausible deniability in this."

When Harry thought about it the plan really was brilliant. Now Dumbledore could not accuse Snape of not doing his job and Harry would be on record of denying everything, even to his own head of house. "Well if that's all the trivial stuff sir can we perhaps work on perfecting my skills?"

With no warning Snape struck and Harry felt his mind reel from the force. He set to work on trapping the probe. They continued on repeating this at least ten more times before Snape said the lessons were through. Harry thanked the man and left feeling frustrated that he still was making no progress in his mind skills. He knew it was going to take a while, but part of him had hoped he would learn it just as fast as he did the dark arts. As he climbed into bed he realized he still needed to send off a letter to Sirius asking for advice on the ball. He summoned a parchment and a quill and scribbled out a quick note. He called for Twink to deliver it and let Sirius know not to respond until the next day since he was going to sleep. Harry was already falling into the darkness when he heard the soft pop of his elf leaving.

It was two days since he had received a response from Sirius about his problem. His hopes of the man being any help were crushed in the first few lines of his letter. He had told Harry at first that he was screwed if he thought he was going to find a more attractive girl than Fleur to bring. It wouldn't have worked anyway since Veela very rarely got jealous. Then the solution Sirius had offered was to go up to Fleur and ask her anyway. The worst she could do would be to turn him down saying she already had a date. It was so simple and part of him desperately wanted to do it in hopes of having her say yes and crushing Longbottom, but there was a part of him that rationalized if she said no then he would lose face.

The whole situation was becoming increasingly annoying and he just didn't want to deal with it anymore. He suddenly realized why he never wanted to be attached to a person. These feelings he was having were horrible and enough to drive one insane. As much as he didn't want to do it, he knew the only way to solve anything was to talk to Fleur. He didn't want to be the one to cave in but it seemed like the girl had a stubborn streak just as long as his.

That's why he was currently walking towards the Gryffindor table. He had avoided it all day, but it was dinner and the last time he would get a chance to see her for the night if he didn't act now. He felt pairs of eyes on him as he slowly strode down towards where she was sitting. An arm reached out and stopped him about eight seats away from where Fleur was though. He looked down to see none other than Gabby holding onto him. She made a gesturing motion for him to clean close so she could say something. He obliged her and leant down so his ear was only a few inches from her mouth. She brought her hands up and cupped them around her ear as she whispered. "I know you're about to talk to her, but just remember know matter what she says or does, Fleur really likes you Harry. It's just confusing for her since she's never seen you act violently or meanly towards someone before now. I think part of her had hoped you would always be the kind, mysterious boy she won't stop talking about at home."

Harry pulled back with a new understanding of the situation. "You're a lot more insightful and serious than you should be Gabby. Stop reading so many school books and read more fantasy or something." He was teasing her and she knew it as she stuck her tongue at him.

He finished his short walk down to where Fleur was sitting and stopped. There was an empty spot next to her, but he really didn't want to touch the Gryffindor table for multiple reasons. The first and foremost was that it would feel traitorous to be seated anywhere but Slytherin. Second was that at any given point Weasley might have sat in that spot and spit food all over it as he chewed and talked like he was so eloquently doing at the moment.

Fleur looked up at him when he approached but didn't say anything before looking back at her food. Longbottom was eyeing him wearily and with distrust.

"Ms. Delacour I was wondering if I might have a few minutes of your time? We haven't been on the best of terms lately and I'd like to try and fix that." He said it and he couldn't take it back now. He waited with his breathe held for what felt like an eternity before Fleur finally responded.

"I suppose that would be okay. Did you have somewhere in mind to go?" She asked as she started to pull herself up from her seat.

"Actually yes I do, and I think you'll find it appropriate. It will give us plenty of privacy to discuss this."

Once she had said goodbye to Longbottom and his friends the two walked together silently. Harry led her down towards the dungeons. Even though she was mad at him she couldn't resist a joke.

"My, my Mr. Potter. Taking me down to the dungeons now? Are you going to chain me up and…_torture me?"_

Without missing a beat Harry shot back his response, "Only if that's the type of thing you're into now Fleur. I'm all about satisfying your needs clearly." The last part was said very sarcastically. He saw the snake head protruding from the wall and gave a hiss barely above a whisper for it to open. Fleur gasped as she watched the wall open up to allow them entry. Once inside Harry quickly shut it before anyone else walked by.

"What is this room Harry? Surely not all of the Slytherin students have rooms like these."

"This used to be one of the school Founders' room. I happened upon it in my second year and have been using it ever since. That's not what we're here to talk about though Fleur."

He watched as her expression of amazement transformed into one of complete seriousness. "I suppose it is not. Though I would love to hear about what else is in this room and how you found it someday. Right now we're here to discuss us though, non?"

Harry smirked and raised an eyebrow at her," Us? I wasn't aware there was an _us. _As a matter of fact, the last time I checked you and Longbottom were closer to being an us than we were. Since you're going to be his date and all."

Fleur looked momentarily surprised that he knew but recovered quickly. "Well maybe if someone had not been too cowardly to ask me out sooner when he knew there was a ball I wouldn't be going with Neville."

Harry was confused by that. "Fleur you do realize the ball hasn't been announced yet right? Longbottom only knew about it because he is Dumbledore's favorite and apprentice. I would have asked you in a heartbeat if it had been announced." He gave her a moment to let this new information sink in before continuing. "Besides you didn't even hesitate in saying yes when he asked you! And before you try and lie to me about that let me save you the trouble since I was standing right behind you!"

Fleur was quickly getting upset. Apparently Neville had known of the ball beforehand and that was the reason he had gotten to ask her before Harry, but now Harry was letting his voice rise and she was having trouble coping. She could already feel the room starting to warm up and was making no effort to stop it. "Well why didn't you say something then!? If you were right there why didn't you step in and ask me instead? I would have said yes to you over him any day! You're the one I want to go with!"

She hadn't meant to say it but she was just so angry and couldn't control what she was saying too well at the moment. It was out in the open now though.

Harry was in no better shape. Normally he would have had a solid grip on his emotions, but here in this moment he wanted to let her know exactly what he was feeling. "OH REALLY? You want to go with me, but before now you wouldn't even talk to me! Every time I try and start a conversation with you lately you don't respond or give some non-committal response! And why is that? Because of some stupid prank that happened to Longbottom! You hold me responsible for it even though there is no proof! Don't feed me some bull shit about how it's me you want to be with when clearly you'd much rather have Longbottom sno...mmpf." His rant was cut short as Fleur suddenly shot towards him. She pushed his shoulders and made him topple backwards onto the floor. Before he could yell or move to push her off her lips were on his. It was a weird sensation it was like their mouths were on fire, but he was hungrily kissing her back. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed the sensation of their lips touching and tongues dancing up until right now.

He rolled them over so he was on top and she responded by hooking her legs around his waist and driving him down towards her so there was no space between them. Not having the patience to deal with their robes he waved his hand and banished their outer layers leaving them in nothing but their undergarments. The skin on skin contact felt so good and he couldn't help but let his hands wander up and down her sides. He brought them up to cup her breasts through the soft material of her bra and she moaned slightly at his touch. Fleur reached around and dug her nails into his back as he began to make his way to his feet with her still firmly wrapped around him. Once he managed to awkwardly wobble to the bed she pulled downward and left trails of red as her nails scratched his back. It was a new sensation for Harry and he couldn't help but gasp in pleasure and pain.

The temperature in the room was rising rapidly, but neither of them cared about that. Harry leaned down and sucked hard on the soft spot at the nape of her collarbone. He had learned from some of their earlier explorations that she loved when he did this. She moaned and brought one hand up to the back of his skull to force him to stay there and continue what he was doing.

After another fifteen minutes of kissing and touching Harry finally spoke up.

"Fleur I can't believe I'm saying this but we need to stop." For a moment he thought she was going to hex him but then she sighed and leaned back onto the pillows propped against the headboard.

"You're right, we still have more to discuss and this while a more fun and pleasurable option will not help us solve our problems. I'm sorry I jumped on you like that, but you were making me very angry and flustered."

Harry let out his first genuine laugh in a few days at that. "Fleur you never have to apologize for jumping on me and snogging me. In fact I encourage you to do that as much as possible. But let's talk now; what got you so upset with me? I know it has something to do with this prank that happened to Longbottom but I'm not sure what that has to do with our…relationship…?"

Fleur gave him a wicked smile at his questioning of their current status. "Harry if you want me to be your girlfriend that is not the proper way to ask. I expect to be woo'd and wowed."

Harry looked at her for a long minute before giving his wrist a slight swirl and making the pillow behind her suddenly shift into a patch of flowers. It was a simple switching charm, but it had the effect as she soon fell back into the patch of lilies. He made a move to straddle her and then leaned his face towards hers and kissed her gently on the lips as he interlocked their hands. When he pulled pack it was just far enough to whisper and tickle her lips. "Fleur would you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, I will Harry but not now. Not until this ball is over. After I have fulfilled my date with Neville I am all yours. I have already told him I am not looking for a boyfriend and it will be very suspicious if we suddenly show up holding hands and kissing. I do not wish to hurt anyone by doing this Harry you should know that."

Harry was momentarily upset by having to wait, but figured it would be for the best. He wouldn't have to worry about any stray jealous feelings interfering if he knew that even though Longbottom was taking her to the ball, as soon as it was over she was his alone.

"As for your other question. I was upset with you because you showed no sympathy or remorse. I am not dumb Harry I know somehow you were responsible for what happened to Neville. I understand that you two have a rivalry of sorts, but I did not truly understand how far it went. Neville could have been seriously hurt by what you did and I was expecting you to at least feel guilty about it when you realized what a horrific experience he had."

Harry didn't know how to explain it to her. He didn't care about Longbottom. The boy was a nuisance that would be dealt with someday, but for now he only did things to him when they were rightfully deserved. The boy's futile attempts to steal Fleur had warranted a retaliatory strike. "Fleur I'm not saying I did have anything to do with it, but if I did then Longbottom was never in danger. Those snakes he had in his bed were very relaxed and comforted by the extra warmth from the runes. On top of that you should ask Longbottom about his special gift. He's a reptile whisper of sorts. If he had any brains he would have used that to his advantage and probably have been freed in no time."

Fleur laid silently while digesting all the new information she had received. It appeared that she might have blown some things out of proportion by not going directly to Harry from the stat. She had listened to what others had to say of the events but not him. It was a mistake on her part and one she vowed to never make again. She was ashamed of herself and rolled away from Harry so that he wouldn't have to look at her as a few stray tears escaped her eyes.

To her surprise an arm wrapped her stomach and pulled her back against a warm solid body. She relaxed into Harry's hold and sighed contently as her eyes began to droop.

"Harry I can't stay here tonight I need to go back to the carriage..." But she wasn't protesting very hard and both of them knew her argument was over the second he pulled the blankets up over them. She wiggled against him to adjust them into a more comfortable position.

One by one the lights in the room began to extinguish themselves as Harry flicked his wand at them. The last things she heard and felt before sleep took her was Harry's soft whisper of words, "Goodnight Flower, sweet dreams", and a light kiss on the top of her head.

Harry woke up the next morning before Fleur did. He didn't move as he was trying to let her get as much sleep as possible. Today the goblet was going to be lit and prospective champions could enter their names. In one week the Goblet would announce the ones who would be competing. He just laid there watching her and enjoying the feeling of being close for another fifteen minutes before he started to wake her. If there was one thing he had learned over the summer was that Fleur did not like being shook away even a slight amount. The amount of times he barely avoided being hexed for doing it was proof enough of that. So for going that method for the moment he leaned over and kissed her. At first she mumbled sleepily into him, but he refused to move his lips and soon some part of Fleur registered what was happening and her eyes snapped open. For a moment she looked panicked but then she must have registered who was kissing her and relaxed. He pulled away once he was sure she was awake.

"Good morning Fleur. Did you sleep well?" The mischievous smile gave away that he already knew the answer to that question.

"Mhmm, that was the best sleep I've had since our time together this summer. However though I fear this is not going to be easy to explain. Madame Maxime will surely question me about why I did not come back to the carriage last night. What am I to say then Mr. Potter?"

"Well you could tell her the truth. Some dashingly handsome, green-eyed boy seduced you into his bed."

Fleur quirked an eyebrow at him before leaning forward and resting her head in her hands, giving him a wonderful view. "You are very full of yourself, and if I remember right it was I who initiated the seduction last night."

Harry appeared to be deep in thought for a few moments after she said this. "Well I suppose you could just tell her that you were hanging out with some of the girls you'd made friends with and fell asleep in their dorm. It's believable enough since our real dorms are down this hallway anyway. I'll make sure that the girls know to back your story up also."

Fleur agreed that it was the best option she had for the moment. Harry suggested they get ready and invited Fleur to for a bath with him, but she declined saying that would most likely result in them taking too long and missing breakfast. Harry smirked at her and threw a last parting comment about not being able to control herself at Fleur before closing the door.

Fleur got up to look around and noticed her uniform was folded neatly on the table. Harry's was also next to hers. On top of them was a note that read: _Master Potter sir, Twink popped in last night to clean and found these on the floor. I has taken the liberty of cleaning them for you and your missy Delacour._

Fleur smiled at the thoughtfulness of the elf. She had wondered what she was going to where since she hadn't brought any spare clothes having not planned on staying the night. Worst come to worst she was just going to ask Harry for an extra set of his robes and alter them down to her size. She walked around the table and began looking at some of the books on the shelf. There wasn't anything too out of the ordinary, but certainly nothing that was on the school curriculum. Most of the books were just advanced material on potions, runes, and charms.

The sound of the door opening behind her caused Fleur to turn around. It took a lot to make a Veela blush, but Fleur couldn't stop the heat from rising to her cheeks when she took in the sight before her. It wasn't the first time she'd seen Harry naked, but the way he stood there now just made her want to jump him.

He was in the doorway completely naked. A few water droplets still clung to his skin giving him the appearance that he'd just been working very hard. He was ruffling his hair with the towel trying to make it somewhat dry. When he stopped it was ruffled and messy, falling into his face just enough to make her heart skip a beat. He had just enough muscle to look good without appearing to do nothing but workout.

Once he was done messing with his hair Harry wrapped the towel back around his waist effectively obscuring the view Fleur had of his lower body. She couldn't stop herself from making a disappointed sigh and instantly regretted it when Harry's eyes found hers and a smirk lit up his features.

She cut him off before he could make a comment though. "One word and I'll make sure you can never make love to me. Understand?"

Harry bit back the comment he had on his tongue and gulped audibly at the not so thinly veiled threat to his man parts. He quickly nodded and moved out of the way as Fleur sauntered into the bathroom. He couldn't help but stare a little as she swayed her hips a little more than necessary.

When the door closed and he snapped out of his hormone induced state he cursed himself. He didn't understand why Fleur could have the effect she did on him. He had done more with Tracey and yet she could never just make him fall apart the way Fleur did. It wasn't anything to do with her veela powers he was sure of that. His mind was way too protected to allow something like that to happen. Maybe he would have to ask Sirius about it the next time he sent a letter to his godfather.

It was another twenty minutes or so before Fleur walked out of the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around herself opting to not give Harry the same show he'd given her, for no other reason than to tease him. He was leaning against the edge of the bed watching her as she walked to the table to grab her uniform.

Fleur was watching him closely as she approached the table. He had a triumphant smirk on his face and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. She did a quick check of her towel to make sure it hadn't slipped and revealed anything. If anything this just made his smirk bigger.

"Alright, I give up. What has you looking like the seeker that caught the snitch?"

Harry laughed at her reference. "Nothing I was just wondering what you were going to wear under your robes. I suppose you could use the same bra, but what about your…" He trailed off and gave her a significant glance downwards.

Fleur cursed in her head as she hadn't thought that far. She almost resigned herself to not wearing anything when an idea struck her. "Harry, dear, could I perhaps borrow a pair of your boxers to wear?" She smiled sweetly at him and batted her eyelashes.

Harry's smirk left his face for a moment but then returned full force. "Sure go ahead there in the top drawer of the wardrobe over there. You can have your choice."

It was another ten minutes before they were both done getting ready and prepared to leave. Something was still bothering Fleur though.

"Why were you still smirking after I asked to borrow your boxers?"

"Well I figured you were just going to ask me to have Twink go to your trunk and grab something for you. But I have to say I think your idea was much better."

Fleur very nearly slapped herself in the face for not thinking of that, but it was too late now. Besides it wasn't like the boxers were uncomfortable.

Harry stepped up and checked to make sure the hall was clear. He had to wait for a few first years to walk by before he could open it. Once they were gone he quickly hissed at the door to have it open.

"Alright let's go to the dorms so I can let the girls know what is going on."

He led her the short distance down the hall to where the entrance was. He gave the password and led her inside the common room. It was still pretty empty since most students would either be at breakfast already or deciding to sleep in and skip breakfast altogether. Luckily Harry knew his friends never left for breakfast before this time though as they always left in a group and Draco took forever to get ready.

As expected the girls were all sitting down talking to Blaise and Theo when the two of them entered. Crabbe and Goyle were most likely done, but standing guard for Draco outside of the bathroom. Ever since Theo had sabotaged Draco's shampoo last year the boy refused to leave the door unguarded.

"Morning everyone." Harry greeted his group of friends. They looked up surprised to hear his voice since he usually just met them outside the hall because he didn't stay in the dorms.

Everyone greeted him and Fleur, though Tracey eyed the two of them suspiciously for a second which caused Harry to give her a slight nod to confirm the silent question.

"I need a favor from you girls." He gestured for them to come close so no one would over hear if they were to walk in. "Fleur fell asleep in my room last night, but if anyone were to ask you about where she was…"

Daphne caught on the fastest and finished his sentence. "She was with us last night having a girls night gossiping about boys and practicing make-up charms."

"Exactly thank you for helping out." Harry pulled Fleur down onto his lap in the arm chair that was open. The group talked about what they were expecting from their lessons for the day while they waited for Draco to come down. It turned out they didn't have to wait that long though as the boy in question showed up a minute or two later. After some good natured teasing at Draco's expense the group left to go get breakfast before their Transfiguration class.

Harry was currently very bored in class. So far the morning had gone exactly as he imagined it would. When they had shown up at the Great Hall Longbottom had tried to make some big show about Fleur never coming back after disappearing with him last night. He had quickly shut up when Harry shot him a glare that promised nothing but pain. Madame Maxime had called Fleur up to the head table to talk to her quietly. The woman didn't appear mad as Fleur explained what had happened. In fact at the end the woman smiled and pulled Fleur in for a quick hug.

Fleur had looked at Harry as if asking where she should sit and almost imperceptibly he nodded towards the Gryffindor section. To anyone that wasn't skilled in reading expressions and emotions she would have appeared happy, but Harry could see the slight sadness creep into her eyes even from across the hall.

He and his friends had made idle chat while they ate. Once they finished their meals all of them got up and walked to the classroom.

McGonagall stuck with her typical approach to teaching. She lectured for the first half of the lesson and then set the students back to working on changing their guinea fowls into guinea pigs.

Because he had already mastered that change Harry was told to start working on changing a mouse into a small bird. He wasn't entirely sure what constituted a small bird so he had opted for a dove. The white mouse meant he wouldn't have to change the color of the fur to match the feathers and he would be able to focus more of shaping the creature. He spent twenty minutes reading the brief description of the dove in his species book. They didn't go into major detail, but there was at least a picture of the skeletal structure with organs in place. It would make it much easier when he was changing the creature if he could put the bones in the right place. After another five minutes of reviewing the image in his mind he opened his eyes and lifted his wand. Out of the corner of his eye he saw McGonagall stop to watch him.

He whispered the incantation and watched as the mouse in front of him began to mold and shape into a dove. His concentration must have slipped just enough to alter the spell though because instead of a long feather tail, the thin furred tail of the mouse was still present on the body of a bird. He sighed and focused again making sure to concentrate fully this time. It wouldn't do to undo some of the changes he already did while he was trying to fix a tail. After the second cast he got the dove to look exactly as it did in the book. However he would have to make it try and fly to see if he had gotten the bone structure correct though. He shot a few sparks out of his wand which caused the bird to squawk and jump out of the way. It started to flap its wings and lifted gradually off the desk. Before it could get too far away he reached out and carefully grabbed it. He had the whole class's attention by now. He turned one of his spare quills into a string and tied it around the bird's leg. The other end he tied to the leg of the desk so that the bird could fly, but not get away.

When he was done with all of that McGonagall finally spoke. "Mr. Potter that was simply amazing! It took you multiple tries, but never in my years have I seen any progress this far this fast with species changes. Take another 50 points for Slytherin!"

That announcement was met with applause and thumbs up from the Slytherins in the room, but it appeared Longbottom had finally reached his breaking point.

"I can't stand it anymore! Why is everything always about Potter? No one else ever gets any respect or praise! It's always "Potter you're amazing." or "How did you do that Potter?" or "I wish I could be like him!""

Surprisingly it wasn't Harry or any of his friends who got to respond and it wasn't even McGonagall. It was Weasley who got the first word in."

"What's the matter Longbottom? Can't take having the spotlight off of you? Just because you're the boy-who-bloody-lived doesn't mean everything has to be about you! Can you even transfigure your guinea fowl at all yet?"

Longbottom's mouth just dropped open in shock. "What the hell Ron?! You're supposed to be my best friend and now you're siding with some Slytherin scum over me? What's wrong with you?"

The Slytherins were really enjoying this rare show of anger between part of what had been dubbed a s the golden trio. Unfortunately McGonagall came back to her senses and kicked both of the lions out of class. She continued to yell at them the whole time they left saying they were disgracing their noble house and she would be seeing them both in detention for the next week.

It seemed like the show was over much to everyone's disappointment until they heard spells being shouted in the hallway. McGonagall seemed to give up on getting anymore teaching done as she dismissed the class and then rushed into the hallway to break up the fight. Everyone hurried to put their supplies away hoping to get a look at what had happened. Harry didn't care though he was just glad the class was over. It brought him down to one class before the weekend. It was also going to be a Hogsmeade weekend and he couldn't wait to get out of the castle for a little bit. Normally he would have spent the time studying, but thanks to Granger tutoring and Longbottom being distracted by the Weasley both of his top competitions grades had slipped. He was in a league of his own at the moment and no one was going to catch him.

"Hey Harry, I need to talk to you. Wait up for me will you?" Draco called out to him from a few rows forward.

"Yeah no problem Draco. What's up?"

The two waved their other friends ahead and told them they would meet them for lunch.

"I have a problem and I need your help with it. This is kind of embarrassing, but you are definitely more experienced than me." Harry had an idea of where this was going, but gestured for Draco to continue on.

"Well I really like Gabby and I want to ask her to the ball. I'm just waiting for tonight when Dumbledore hopefully announces it."

Harry was sure there was more. "Alright I don't see what the problem is then Draco. Gabby is guaranteed to say yes."

Draco smiled at the reassurance from his friend. It was an odd word for a Malfoy to use to describe a Potter but without a doubt it was accurate. "I know she will, but I don't know what to do about Pansy. I think she still likes me and I don't want to hurt her. Our families have been friends for a long time."

"Ah, I understand now. I have to say Draco I'm surprised at your sudden maturity with this. I would have expected you to just ask Gabby and not care about Pansy's feelings. How about this…talk to Pansy, no wait don't cut me off, and tell her you like her but only as a friend. Offer her a dance or two at the actual ball and tell her you hope it doesn't hurt your friendship."

Draco was looking at him like he had grown to heads by the end of his suggestion. "Does stuff like that actually work Potter? I mean have you ever tried that before?"

Harry just looked condescendingly at his friend. "Of course I've tried it before. How do you think I explained Fleur to Tracey? Trust me it will work. Girls are a sucker for the honest approach."

"Alright I can see that then. Thanks for the advice…I guess I owe you one. So I'll make sure to teach you how to dress sometime so that you don't look like a homeless bum."

To anyone else Draco might have actually meant the insult, but Harry could hear the teasing tone underneath the jibe.

Doing his best to sound like a stuck-up ponce Harry responded. "Please Malfoy, you wish you had style like I did. Maybe someday your daddy's fortune will be enough to buy my secrets."

The two burst into laughter at the horrible imitation and continued to trade insults and jokes on their way down to the great hall for lunch. As they passed the hospital wing the doors opened and Weasley stepped out. The redheaded boy eyed them wearily. Laughing Slytherins usually meant no good for him or anyone else not in their house. It was then that Harry had an idea though.

"Say Weasley did Longbottom put you in there?"

Draco glanced at Harry suspiciously aware the boy had some plan, but not sure what it was just yet.

Weasley seemed to be having an internal battle with himself over whether or not to respond. In the end the boy settled for a slow head nod in the affirmative.

"Well do you want me to teach you a spell real quick that will make him sorry for doing it to you?" Harry asked the boy. At seeing the suspicious glare coming from the boy he quickly amended what he said. "Don't worry the spell isn't illegal and it doesn't cause any pain."

Once more Weasley looked to be having a struggle. "Alright I want to know what it does though."

"That's fine with me. I only have one condition for teaching you this. If anyone asks you where you learned it do not tell them it was me. Everyone already thinks I trapped him in that bed of his I don't need any more heat on me."

Seeing the boy's nod Harry gestured for Weasley to follow Draco and himself. The boy who was usually so dim-witted actually made a good judgment and stayed a good distance back so as not to appear like they were travelling together. Harry and Draco ducked into an unused room near the staircase leading down to the first floor and waited.

"So what's the deal Potter? Are we going to jump hi when he comes in or are you actually going to help him?" Draco was curious as to what was really happening.

"Oh no I plan on teaching him a spell that will make Longbottom thoroughly embarrassed. Have you ever heard of spells that magical farmers would use to make their pigs or cows bigger so they would produce more meat?"

Draco's eyes widened comically as he shook his head no. He was once more surprised by the wide range of knowledge his friend had.

"Well then I'll wait to explain until Weasley gets here in a few moments." Sure enough a few seconds later the door opened and the boy cautiously entered. Upon seeing the other two were just sitting down without their wands out he gained confidence and closed the door behind him.

"Alright Weasley the spell I'm about to teach you is relatively simple. Even the most inept of wizards and witches can cast it. Its original purpose was meant for animals so without proper modification it has some hilarious results when used on humans. As I started to explain to Draco it's a spell normally used by magical farmers to increase the size of their pigs, cows, etc… However when not modified the right way and used on humans it makes them start to gain weight. It doesn't happen very fast but over a course of a few hours expect to see someone gain at least thirty pounds. Sound like something you'd like to do to Longbottom?"

Harry had barely finished speaking when Weasley excitedly began to yell his agreement. "That's wicked! He won't be able to get any girl looking like that and people will make fun of him! Teach me how to do it please!"

Harry shared a look with Draco as if to say _that was easy_. "Alright the incantation for it is Corpulentus. It can be applied directly to the target or you could cast the spell on a piece of food that Longbottom is going to eat. Personally I suggest the second way as it's more subtle and you could even offer it to him as a peace offering or something. Use a dessert tonight at dinner and hand it to him saying you're sorry or whatever it is you Gryffindors say to apologize."

The redhead paid rapt attention as Harry coached him through how to cast the spell properly for the next thirty minutes or so. Even Draco attempted the spell a few times. By the end of the session Weasley could adequately cast the spell and was more than excited to try it out.

Before the boy left Harry reminded him that he was to tell no one of where he had learned the spell. The boy looked confused as he spoke. "What spell? I just came from the hospital wing."

Harry smirked and waited a minute or two before he and Draco left the room.

"That was brilliant Harry. I can't wait to see that oaf looking like a walrus tomorrow. Will he have to naturally shed the weight or can it be dispelled?"

"Unfortunately because it's just a charm a simple finite will return him back to his original size, but we'll see how long it takes him to figure that one out. Now come on I'm starving and we only have a little while before Herbology."

Herbology wasn't too exciting, although any class with Hufflepuffs in it tended to be on the boring side. Neither he nor Draco had chosen to inform their friends of what would be happening to Longbottom. It was always best to have deniability in the matter. If too many people knew about it beforehand there was a chance that it could be ruined or traced back to them.

The time between the end of classes and dinner was spent in the library doing the homework they had been assigned so that their weekend would be free.

Tracey broke the silence first as they were all scribbling away at their essays.

"So who's going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Blaise and Daphne said they had originally planned on it, but then decided they would rather have a picnic lunch together by the lake. Millicent, Pansy, and Tracey has all swooned at that saying it was such a romantic thing to do. The guys just glared at Blaise for making a standard they would all have to live up to at some point.

"Well I'm going, for a little while at least, to pick up some sweets and grab a drink of butter beer." Draco replied.

Theo also said he was going, but he would be going with a date that he adamantly refused to name. This brought on a new round of teasing at the table as everyone took turns trying to guess the girl. Harry had a feeling it was going to be Padma Patil, but wanting to respect Theo's privacy he guessed something outlandish and chose Lavendar Brown from Gryffindor.

Millicent, Pansy, and Tracey all said they were going to stop down and go window shopping for the day just to get out of the castle.

"Well what about you Harry? Are you going to get out of this place or stick to your typical routine and hide away in the dungeons for days on end?" The question was meant to be a joke but all of them knew that Harry had literally stayed in the dungeons for days before.

"Actually I am going out this weekend. All of my homework is done once I finish this essay and Longbottom and Granger have both stopped being real competition lately so I find myself with some more time to relax. I actually thought I might see if Fleur wanted to go see the town…" He stopped when he saw the grimace from Pansy. "What's wrong Pansy? I thought you liked Fleur?"

Pansy sighed "I do like Fleur and Gabby even, but I don't know about them. Are you sure that you can trust them? After all you haven't known them that long and before that she was hanging out with Longbottom and still does most of the time. How do you know she's not just trying to spy on us for him?"

"Spy on us? What could we possibly be doing that warrants needing to be spied on? Last time I checked no one in this group was members of some illegal organization or anything like that." Harry said out loud but in head added _not yet._

"I don't know it's just really suspicious that she shows up and befriends the boy-who-lived, but then all of the sudden she wants to be your friend of all people. Everyone in this school knows you're not the friendliest of people Harry. All should would have to have done is ask someone and they probably would have warned her off of talking to you. Just be careful okay? I'm not saying don't hang out with her I'm just saying that you should be cautious."

Pansy didn't know how long he and Fleur had really known each other or just what their relationship was, so it was hard for Harry to be upset with her over being worried. "Thanks Pansy, I'll make sure to keep that in mind. I don't think she's dangerous but I won't discount what you said."

After that the group went back to their work and the silence took over again. As Harry finished his essay he looked around at the group and wondered just how it had come to be like this. It was odd for an entire year of students to get along, especially in Slytherin. Perhaps it was because the other houses so strongly isolated them, but then why weren't all Slytherin year levels this close? No it was just something about the people they had. Everyone didn't always agree with each other or their ideas of how something should work, but they were willing to compromise and take suggestions.

His thoughts about their group continued on into dinner. As he sat eating he was silently going over just what he really knew about each person. It surprised him to realize just how little he knew about Blaise and Daphne now when they had been his first and best friends. Somewhere along the line Draco had taken that place though and Harry had no complaint about that. The boy while sometimes vain and childish was more than competent with a wand and would have considerable political pull one day. He would be a valuable friend when trying to avoid trouble with the ministry.

He was brought from his thoughts when he saw Weasley approach Longbottom with a plate of something in his hand. At first it looked like Longbottom might outright reject the boy, but Granger said something and the boy accepted the plate. Weasley sat down across from him and the two were soon talking and joking again. Harry had to admit that Weasley could be a decent actor when he wanted to be. With every spoonful of dessert that Longbottom ate Harry's smirk got slightly larger. He made sure to adjust it into a carefully practiced smile when Fleur made eye contact with him so as to not tip her off that anything was happening. She smiled and waved at him which he returned. He was the recipient of many jealous glares after that.

Once the tables were cleared Dumbledore stood up and the hall gradually became quiet.

"Good evening, now that we have all been properly fed and watered I have just a few announcements. First and most importantly is that tonight the Goblet of Fire will be lit." Here he pointed towards the ancient looking chalice that was sitting atop of a small table placed in front of the Head table. "Those who wish to compete will write their name on a slip of paper and then toss it in. Be warned I will be emplacing an age line around the goblet so only those who are of age may partake in the competition." There were some groans heard around the room at the, most noticeably coming from the Weasley twins at Gryffindor.

"The goblet will remain lit for one week. At the end of that week it will announce the three champions and the tournament will officially begin. I have one more announcement before I send you all to your dormitories for the evening. This winter there will be a Yule ball. It is open to anyone 4th year and above." The majority of girls too young to go immediately started to protest when Dumbledore held up a hand to silence them. "However if an older year invites a younger year then they may attend. That is all, have a good night."

At the conclusion of his speech the goblet which had been previously empty suddenly burst into life. A blue flame erupted out of the cop and stayed burning brightly casting an eerie glow on anyone who got close to it. Most people didn't take notice though as they were already busy trying to eye up people who they wanted to invite or be invited by to the ball. Harry saw Fleur's eyes travel to him for a second before snapping back to Longbottom who had wrapped an arm around her shoulders possessively.

Harry snorted at the obvious attempt to warn other guys off by the boy. Personally Harry was hoping that many guys asked Fleur anyway just so that he could see the boy wonder erupt into jealousy. An elbow in his side brought him back from his thoughts. He turned to see Tracey eyeing him up.

"Potter you'll be escorting me to the ball. I don't care if you fancy another witch; it appears she's already taken, since I will not be showing up alone. You will dance with me at least four times and get me a drink at least twice. If you're lucky maybe I will give you a good evening kiss, understood?"

Harry nearly laughed at Tracey. He had planned on not going with anyone since he didn't want to lead anyone on, but it looked like that option was not going to fly. His thoughts from days earlier about it being awkward to take Tracey and possibly end up hurting her were completely forgotten.

He rested his hand on her leg, perhaps a little higher up than necessary. "That's agreeable with me, but just to be clear when did you start bossing me around?" His eyes narrowed dangerously at the end for effect and his hand slid a little bit further up to try and cause her discomfort.

Not to be outdone though Tracey rested her hand almost directly on top of his crotch before she responded. "I think you need a reminder Potter, but you can't intimidate me as easily as you seem to be able to do to everyone else. Or do you not remember second year and the snake incident?"

Harry glared as hard as he could at her. He was not going to be usurped by her in front of everyone at the table. He grabbed her wrist and removed it from his leg. "I don't recall correctly why don't we go and have this conversation somewhere else and you can remind me exactly what happened."

"That's fine, but I pick where and I want to go for a stroll through the castle."

Harry didn't like giving in but figured it was the only way to move this somewhere private. He had originally started this as a joking argument, but now he wasn't sure if it was serious or not. He didn't appreciate being called out in front of his friends and other Slytherins.

Harry was only slightly surprised when the two stopped outside of the transfiguration classroom. He tried the door only to find it locked. He waved his wand and unlocked it and then gestured for Tracey to go inside. He did a quick scan and a revealing spell in the room to make sure they were alone before silencing and locking the door. Once that was done he rounded on Tracey.

"What the hell Tracey? Why were you trying to make me look like a fool down there?" He wasn't extremely mad with her since he knew people were always trying to raise themselves up by tearing others down in their house, but he had thought he could count on Tracey to have his back.

Tracey for her part looked unbothered though as she continued to saunter towards the front of the classroom. "Harry I needed to get you out of there. I don't care if you order me around. I like taking orders, or do you not remember some of our more…fun…times together?" Suddenly everything became clear to Harry as he watched Tracey drop her robe to leave her standing in a short skirt and a small white tank top.

He knew it was wrong but he couldn't stop himself from staring as she bent over the desk and looked back at him. He mentally chastised himself as he pulled his eyes away. He liked Fleur he should be ashamed of the thoughts he had just been having. "Tracey we can't…I mean I don't want to lead you on…it's not right for us to do this. It's only going to end up hurting you and Fleur." He couldn't believe he was about to walk away from this, but he knew he had to.

Tracey just smirked at him though as she wiggled her ass invitingly. "Harry you have nothing to worry about. I still don't want a relationship with you, but I just haven't been satisfied since we stopped meeting like this. If it helps I already asked Fleur earlier today in the hallway if I could do this. She told me you two weren't dating and it was no business of hers what or who you did in your off time."

Harry was torn now. Obviously he should walk away and tell Tracey no, but if she had talked to Fleur…it was true after all. The two of them weren't dating yet and she had told him that it was good for him to have experience. There was just no way he could do it and feel right though. He would love the opportunity to be with Tracey again, but not if it was going to hurt Fleur.

"Tracey I can't. Put your clothes back on and I'll wait outside so I can walk you back down to the common room." He turned to go but stopped at the sound of his friends voice.

"So that's it huh? You must really like this girl if you're going to walk away from me Harry. I practically threw myself on top of you." Harry could hear the disappointment in her voice and he would be lying if he didn't feel like he missed a great opportunity. "I'm actually proud though Harry, it takes a really good guy to walk away from something like this. I hope Fleur really appreciates you when you two can finally be together. Now go outside and no peeking! You got your show for the night."

Harry smiled as he shut the door behind him, glad that Tracey didn't hate him for this. Or she was acting like she didn't hate him for the moment at least. He didn't have to wait long before she came out of the room and the two began the long walk back to the dormitories. They spent most of the walk in silence, it wasn't awkward exactly but it wasn't the most comfortable either. When they reached the entrance to the common room Tracey turned to face him.

"I really meant it when I said I was proud of you Harry. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt to be turned down, but I'll get over that. Just make sure Fleur treats you right okay? You're a great guy and deserve to be treated like it."

Harry pulled Tracey into a hug as she tried to walk away. "Thank you Tracey, it means a lot to me. I'm still taking you to the ball, so how about tomorrow we go to Hogsmeade together and you pick out your dress and then help me pick out some robes so that I don't make you look bad."

Tracey smiled as she pulled back from the hug. "That's the best idea you've had all night Harry. Because if you had shown up in some ugly robes and made me look bad I would have had to kill you on spot. Now go get some sleep, I don't think you realize how exhausting shopping can be with me!"

Harry just shook his head and turned to head back to his room wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

A/N Before I get questions about why Fleur would tell Tracey to go ahead and let Harry do what he wants, keep in mind that Tracey asked her in the middle of the day most likely with people around. Fleur can't just come out and say that her and Harry are dating so she was kind of caught and Tracey knew it, she's a Slytherin for a reason after all.


	25. Chapter 25

"Did you see him? I guess with a name like Longbottom it was only a matter of time before it happened."

"I know, have you seen his grandmother? Looks like he inherited some of her genes."

"That's such a shame he really let himself go, I almost thought of asking him to the Yule Ball. Thank goodness I changed my mind."

Harry listened as more and more people took notice of Longbottom. It was like music to his ears as they tore the boy and his family to pieces. He had gotten ready early and told Tracey to come get him from the Great Hall when she was ready to go to Hogsmeade. Currently he was sitting watching people go up and drop their name into the Goblet.

It was sad really, that some of these people honestly thought they had a chance of being selected. Most of the people he had watched put their names in weren't even above average in their school work. The only one with any promise he'd seen had been some Hufflepuff boy, DIggory if he remembered right, who was at the top of his year.

He watched as a small group of Gryffindors were off to one side occasionally sneaking glances over their shoulders. Subtlety obviously wasn't one of their strong points. After a few minutes more of some finger pointing and louder than necessary whispering two red heads stepped towards the age line. Harry recognized them easily enough as the Weasley twins. They were known around the school as the best pranksters, but Harry didn't see how one could classify best as being caught the most.

They each produced a small vial of blue liquid from their robes.

_Surely they aren't going to try and trick Dumbledore's age line with a potion? He thought._ Harry leaned forward and watched with rapt attention as they clinked the vials together in a toast and then downed them. The two waited for a minute to let the potion do whatever it was going to do and then they stepped forward. Nothing happened to them and suddenly cheers went up from the group they had previously been standing with. The twins high fived and did a little dance of celebration before turning to face the goblet.

Harry for his part was impressed they had made it this far, but didn't think that the Goblet would be fooled so easily. It turned out he was right about his assumption. As the two dropped pieces of paper into the flames with their names on it a burst of fire erupted and hit each in the face. The blast was great enough to hurl both of them backwards and out of the age line.

They landed with a thud on the ground and many people rushed to see if they were okay. When the two were finally helped to their feet they looked slightly dazed. It was moments later when laughter broke out though. The two were now sporting identical long white beards very similar to the one that the headmaster had.

In typical fashion for them though they basked in the laughter and began striking poses with their beards. This went on for a couple minutes more before the group finally left the hall. Harry was grateful for the morning entertainment and hoped they weren't the last to try and fool the age line.

All talking seized when a group of boys dressed in Durmstrang robes came into the hall. There were five of them total and at the front of their group was none other than Victor Krum. As he passed Harry and his eyes fell on him he swore there was a glint of something in his eye. It looked like Krum had recognized him, but he didn't know why that would be.

Harry watched as each boy took turns approaching the goblet and then dropping their name in. Krum was the last to go up and submit his name. They didn't stay around long and Harry couldn't blame him for wanting to get away since more than half the girls in the room were eyeing him up.

He stopped as he passed Harry this time though. Instinctively Harry readied himself to flick his wand out. He didn't say anything instead opting to let the older boy say or do whatever it was he came over here to do. When the boy did speak though it came out in broken English that Harry was barely able to understand.

(I don't want to try and write an accent I'm not familiar with so I'm going to type in plain English, but feel free to use your imagination and read these in Krum's accent)

"You are Harry Potter yes?"

"Yes that would be me. And you are Victor Krum the famous Quidditch seeker from Bulgaria."

Victor smiled, or what Harry assumed was a smile at him. "Ah yes, but you are famous now to Harry potter. After your win this summer at the dueling competition many have heard of you."

That surprised Harry in all honesty, at school very few people brought it up anymore so he had figured it just wasn't as big of a deal as everyone made it out to be. He had only won the underage division anyway. "That's news to me. I did not realize so many knew of me. I'm still nowhere near the fame that you possess though. You walk into a room and more than half the people in it go all glassy-eyed and start to drool."

Victor scowled at the last part. "Yes it is quite disturbing to see so many people I do not even know throwing themselves at me. Some even try and act as if we are old friends and they know all about my life. It is very annoying to deal with. However I only stopped to ask you one thing and we have gotten side tracked. My little brother was very impressed by your performance in the tournament and I think he would appreciate a photograph of us signed by you. Perhaps you would not mind doing this for him?"

Harry was honestly shocked. Never before had he been asked for an autograph or a picture and here was Krum, world famous seeker, asking him for it. Granted he claimed it was for his younger brother, but nonetheless. Deciding it would be impolite to turn the boy down he agreed to take the picture. Krum called out to one of the other boys he walked in with in some language that Harry didn't recognize. The boy walked over and produced a camera from his bag he had been carrying. Harry stood up and Krum came over to sling his arm around him. Weary that most if not all eyes were on the two of them Harry gave the best smile he could manage. The camera flashed and the picture popped out. It took only a few seconds for the magic picture to fully develop and then Krum cast an engorgio on it to make the picture big enough for Harry to sign and write a brief message if he wanted. He pulled out a quill and flipped the picture over where he began to write.

He wasn't sure what to write exactly but figured something inspirational would do. After a little thought he wrote down the best he could come up with and signed it. Krum looked it over and nodded approvingly before putting the picture safely away into the bag of books he had with him.

"Thank you very much Harry Potter, this will mean a lot to my little brother. You are a very kind person to be doing this. Have a good day."

The group of students left shortly after that and Harry was left with eyes still on him. Most notably was Longbottom. If possible the boy was glaring at him even harder than normal. Granted when one looked like a walrus and was trying to glare at you the menacing effect was lost.

Harry couldn't help it and he laughed directly at the boy when he made eye contact. He had enough sense of mind to not lose complete focus though and gingerly side stepped as a cutting spell flew through the area he had just been standing.

The laughter left his body as he set his gaze back on the boy turned lard. "Really Longbottom? How stupid are you? Can you even move in that fat body of yours and yet you chose to try and attack me? Fine at least stand up so I won't beat you while you're sitting on your fat arse."

Whispers broke out through the hall and students started to form a circle around the two. Harry walked to the front so now there was nothing between him and Longbottom. The goblet was directly behind him and the glow it cast down upon him gave Harry a very frightening look.

Longbottom shakily rose to his feet and for a second it looked like he might think better of it and try and walk away, but then his wand slashed out and Harry was on the move. He ducked the cutter and fired back without mercy.

"Secar! Retegenu! Densaugeo! Protego!"

Due to his new found weight Longbottom was much more sluggish than usual. He managed to get a shield up to stop the first slashing spell Harry sent but was helpless as the knee reversal hex hit him full force. In desperation as his knees popped and twisted around he yelled out the disarming charm. Hoping for a miracle just to buy him some time to reverse the damage done to him. Luckily the third spell had sailed over his head, but a startled yelp from behind him let him know that someone hadn't moved out of the way fast enough.

His disarming charm splashed uselessly against the shield Harry had cast. Harry just watched on as Longbottom tried to fix the hex he had put on him. To his surprise the boy finally tried a simple finite on his fifth attempt. The knee reversal hex as well as the weight gaining curse immediately fixed themselves. Longbottom was so shocked by what had happened he didn't think to avoid Harry's next stream of spells and once again found himself under assault.

"Tarantellegra! Reducto! Conjunctivitis!"

Longbottom didn't get out of the way of the first jinx and soon found himself doing a jig. The blasting curse missed him by centimeters but the next one was spot on. As soon as the curse hit he dropped his wand and screamed out in pain as his hands went immediately to his eyes.

"MAKE IT STOP! Please make it stop! My eyes feel like they're on fire! Someone help me! HELP ME!"

Longbottom still didn't have control of his legs so as he clawed at his face his legs continued to move about frantically. The whole seem was very comical in Harry's opinion and nothing short of what the boy deserved. As the boy continued to shriek and call for help Harry advanced on him and began to talk.

"You see Longbottom this is why I warned you multiple times to leave me alone. You got off what? One or two spells? You can't hang with me and you know it. I suggest you take your ego and learn to keep it in check. You wanted to know why people want to be like me, why the praise me, why they respect me?" By now Harry was kneeling down and whispering into the screaming boy's ear. "It's because of my power; it's because of how easily I can make even their supposed savior and eventual leader look like a fool with nothing more than basic spells."

Feeling somewhat generous Harry cast a finite on the boy's legs to stop him from moving around. He stood up and surveyed those who had watched the duel, if it could be called that, and noticed the slight hint of fear in their eyes. He hadn't done anything illegal, there were no dark arts used. He had purposely kept most of his spells basic to show that he didn't need fancy spells to beat anyone. His power and knowledge alone could do it.

He started to walk away when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he instinctively moved to the side. A disarming charm flew over his should and he immediately turned to find the source of the attack. To his surprise Longbottom was on one knee still desperately rubbing at his eyes which had now begun to leak tears, but his wand was held in the other. He was about to make the boy regret the decision to attack him when his back was turned when he heard someone call his name.

He shot around just in time to see Fleur pull her wand out and try and cast something. The disarming charm that had missed him slammed into the goblet and then seemed to rebound off of it while changing color to a dark blue. He had no chance to dodge and was hit full on in the chest by the bolt of magic. He was thrown backwards and crashed into of the benches. He fought desperately to stay conscious. He kept going in and out with his vision fading to black and then his eyes would shoot open. People were starting to gather around him. Gradually the people just became shapes and blurs. Finally a large black blur seemed to push through all the others and reach down to engulf him.

The next time light came back into his vision he was staring at the ceiling. He was lying on a white bed and there were many like it around him. He assumed they had brought him to the hospital wing. He hated being in the hospital wing. It made him feel vulnerable, like he could be attacked at any second. Plus Tracey was going to kill him for not going to Hogsmeade with her now. He doubted very much she would accept his excuse that it was Longbottom's fault he had wound up in the hospital wing. If that imbecile had just known when to accept that he was beaten then none of this would have happened.

He heard the door to the hospital wing open and being in no mood to deal with anyone he shut his eyes and leveled his breathing so as to not be disturbed. It turned out he was worried for nothing though as the footsteps walked briskly past his bed to somewhere further down. For a moment there was nothing, but then he could make out low conversation going on between someone. He was too far away to catch all of it, but he could parts.

"Can't believe you…thinking? Not supposed to…better than…done. No more…the ball is..."

Anymore of the conversation was stopped though as another door opened and Madame Pompfrey came out to tell whoever it was that was visiting to leave.

Whoever it was must have listened because the footsteps started to come back towards his bed. Only this time they stopped next to his bed. Then they came closer and Harry could sense someone directly next to him. He desperately wanted to open his eyes, but knew that if the person thought he was asleep they would be more honest in whatever they were about to say. It shocked him slightly when he heard Fleur's voice and then she grabbed his hand.

"I'm sorry Harry. I tried to warn you and get a shield up but I wasn't fast enough. It's my fault you're stuck here and I feel horrible. I hope you can forgive me, and not just for this either. I've been such a fool lately. You warned me about Neville just using me to get at you. Part of me knew it was true, but then another part of me wanted to think that you were just being paranoid. It's nice having guys who are friends and not always trying to sleep with you. I guess I should have known though; other than you and the few Slytherin boys that are your friends I probably won't ever be able to trust a guy. I just hope that you'll forgive me for being dumb. I know you already have a date, but I just want you to know that I told Neville I'm not going with him anymore. I don't want to be associated with him after what happened today." By the end of her speech Fleur had a few stray tears coming down her cheek and a couple managed to fall onto Harry's hand. He couldn't take it anymore at that point and gave her hand a gentle squeeze to get her attention.

She gasped at the sudden movement, but smiled down at him when she saw his eyes were open. "How long have you been awake Harry?" The tears were still there but she was now looking at him suspiciously.

"Long enough to hear everything you said. I just wanted to know you were being completely honest Fleur. Of course I forgive you. I told you at the beginning of the year I wouldn't dictate who you can or cannot hang around with. It's up to you to learn to judge people's character accurately. I'm glad you were able to see what a jerk Longbottom is though. Goodness knows how many times I wanted to march right up and rip him apart for the way he looked at you."

"Harry keep your voice down he is only a few beds down from you. You do not need to be starting anything so soon." She tried to reprimand him but her smile made it hard to take her seriously.

"Yeah whatever. I'm probably in better shape than he is anyway. Now go on get out of here before Madame Pomfrey comes back out and bodily removes you."

Fleur leaned down and gave him a light peck on the cheek before turning and walking out. Harry sat up in his bed and started to stretch his arms a little bit. He was going to try and walk around to stretch out his legs, but he stopped when he heard Longbottom speak.

"How do you do it Potter?"

Harry was confused as to what the boy was talking about but decided to humor him since there was nothing else to do. "Do what Longbottom? I do a lot of things you're going to have to be more specific." He swung his legs over the edge of the bed so he could be sitting up looking in the direction of the other boy.

"You always beat me. Well not even me; you beat everyone at everything. How is it possible that you never lose?"

Harry snorted at that. He never beat Sirius in a duel and he only managed to beat Snape a couple of times. He couldn't beat Blaise or Draco at chess. He didn't understand what Longbottom was talking about now for sure. He lost at many things it just happened that very few people were around when it happened. "Longbottom you're seriously deluded in the head if you think I never lose. I just keep my losses under wraps and not out in the open for everyone to see like you seem to enjoy doing."

For some reason this just made the Boy Wonder angrier though. "That's not true! No matter what I do I can't beat you. Yeah I got lucky in the one duel we had in front of the school, but we both know you should have really won that. Even today, I had the advantage at first with my surprise attack, but you flipped it around so fast I had no chance. Then when you get knocked out by the backlash from the cup it looks like I might be okay. Then the next thing I know Snape comes in and is taking points and giving me detention. He told some people to bring me here and then rushed to you. He brought you up here himself and told Madame Pomfrey you were the more serious case. So she makes sure I'm stable and then just goes over to you. No questions asked or anything. Everyone cares more about you than they do for me. It's not fair though. I'm the boy who lived they should care about me."

How arrogant could one person really be is what Harry had been thinking the whole time through Longbottom's rant. Even Draco at his worst had not been that conceited…well that wasn't entirely true, Draco could be that self-centered if he really wanted to. "Longbottom did you really just say that Madame Pomfrey should have stayed to take care of you even though my injuries were worse? Do you even stop to listen to what you're saying?"

"You don't get it! Your injuries weren't worse! You're up and walking around just fine now. But me? I'm going to be here for two more days with no ability to see then after that I have to wear lenses that will continue to fix my vision back to normal thanks to that curse you used on me."

That was news to Harry as he hadn't expected the curse to do that much damage to the boy's vision. He was sure Snape would be giving him a good long lecture about it at some point though. "I don't know what to tell you Longbottom. The curse wasn't supposed to damage your eyes that much. At least they'll heal and you'll be able to play the sympathy card with all your adoring fans. I don't have that for me; if I had been hurt no one would care except my few friends. The whole school cares that you're hurt. You can't see it, but the pile of get well cards and sweets next to your bed is ridiculous. Know what is next to mine? Nothing. I don't have a single card or box of sweets. So stop trying to play the pity game with me because I don't pity you. I don't feel guilty for what I did. You started it and I've warned you before. Now kindly refrain from talking to me anymore while we're forced to be in the same room."

That was the last conversation Harry had with the boy until the matron came to release him. It was childish and uncalled for but he couldn't resist one parting shot at the boy.

"Later Longbottom, I'll make sure to keep Fleur company for you."

The angry snarl was like music to his ears as he walked out. It was so easy to wind Gryffindors up. The day was almost over so he saw no reason to try and head to Hogsmeade now. He had all day tomorrow that he could go and would most likely spend looking at dress robes. Having nothing better to do for the moment he went back down to the Great Hall. He figured he could sit and write a letter to Sirius since he hadn't spoken with his Godfather in a while. The last time he had heard from him the man had mentioned he would be going out with some friends to find a place for a party later in the year. Harry had read between the lines to find the true meaning and was curious as to how it had gone. The Great Hall was shockingly empty with only three other students in it. Two looked like a pair of first or second years playing chess and the other was a boy he vaguely recognized. It was the first person he'd actually had a conversation with on the Hogwarts Express. The boy's name was Terry Boot and they were in the same year. Boot was very smart and always finished high up in the class rankings.

He gave the boy a nod of acknowledgement when he walked by and caught his eye. Boot returned it and then went back to reading whatever book he had open in front of him. Harry sat down and pulled out a quill and some parchment and began to write. He had been scribbling on his parchment for about ten minutes when a shadow fell across the table and him. He looked up to see none other than Terry Boot standing in front of him.

Without waiting to be invited the boy sat down across from him. "Hello Potter, what are you up to?"

Harry eyed the boy for a second before he replied. "Writing a letter to my Godfather."

"That's interesting." Judging by his tone and lack of further questions he didn't find it all that interesting. "I was wondering if you would be able to help me. You see there is a Slytherin girl I would like to ask to the ball, but I don't know all that much about her I'm afraid."

Harry was really starting to wonder just what type of reputation he had around this school. This made Boot the second guy in less than three days to ask him for advice with girls. "That's nice, what makes you think I know anything about this girl or that I would be willing to help you?"

Boot just smirked at him. "You know her trust me; she's always hanging around with your group. Now if you were to help me, I would be in your debt obviously and owe you a favor somewhere down the road when you need it."

Harry thought it over for a minute and weighed the pros and cons. Truth be told there weren't that many cons if any. He could possibly be helping set one of his friends up with an intelligent guy while also gaining a favor. "Alright I suppose I could provide you with a little insight, but you'll have to tell me who it is first." Harry held out his hand for the boy to shake.

Terry reached out and grabbed it with a smile on his face. "Excellent, now it's Pansy Parkinson." The look on Harry's face was priceless. He had actually expected Boot to say it was Tracey he wanted to ask. "I know she normally only goes after people with a lot of money. It's no secret she would love to get with Malfoy after all, but my family is well enough off and I'm working on getting a good ministry job."

Harry nodded his agreement at what Terry had said. "You're right; Pansy does want someone with money who could take of her if the relationship were to become something serious. She also likes people with connections so you getting in at the ministry would be a good start. Her big thing is fashion. She is always talking about some article from Witch Weekly. So if you want to impress her, you have to dress good. I'm not saying you have to go out of your way to get all fancy, but don't go up to her looking like you just rolled out of bed. I'm pretty sure her favorite color is purple, so if you were to try and do anything with flowers or something like that I would keep that in mind as well."

Boot was diligently writing down what Harry was saying. He looked up after he finished rereading what he had written down. "Is there anything else I should know?"

Harry thought for a minute before nodding. "Yeah, if you want to guarantee she says yes you have to listen very carefully to this. Pansy likes to feel like she is the center of attention. She wants all eyes on her and for everyone to know that she is someone special. If you plan something big, some extravagant way to ask her to the ball in front of a lot of people you're guaranteed to get a yes."

"So you're saying I should put on some type of show when I ask her? Actually that's not a bad idea. We've been working with runes to enchant objects…excellent! Thanks a lot Potter. I really owe you if all of this works out. I may need your help in getting Pansy in the right place at the right time though; can I count on you for that?"

Harry nodded his head to let the boy know he had his help. "Just remember. If all this works out, you owe me. No questions asked about what I have you do. It may be something now, or it may be down the road."

"As long as you don't have me kill anyone I'm okay with whatever."

Harry smirked at him. "I'm not going to ask you to kill anyone Boot."

"Because you enjoy that part too much?"

Harry looked up at him sharply for that comment. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Boot just winced at the look. "Shit I didn't mean to say it out loud. It just sounded like you had more to say to your last statement and that fit. I don't mean it Potter. I don't think you go around killing people for fun."

Harry scanned the boy's eyes briefly and found the fear there. He knew the boy was just trying to cover himself now. He really did think that Harry enjoyed hurting people; he was just smart enough to not say anything about it.

"Well if that's all you needed Boot I'd appreciate it if you stopped taking up the air at my table." Harry wanted to continue his letter to Sirius, but didn't like knowing that someone could be reading what he was writing.

He looked like there was something he wanted to say but chose better. "No that was it, thanks. I'll be in touch when I am ready to ask her. It should be in a few days." And then the boy grabbed his bag and left quickly never once turning around.

Harry just shook his head and went back to putting the finishing touches on his letter to Sirius. By this time he was the last student in the Great Hall so he called for Twink to take the letter. With nothing else to occupy him for the evening he decided to go read until he fell asleep. Tomorrow was most likely going to be a long day and he wanted all of his energy.

**LITTLE HANGLETON**

It had been a long time since he'd been officially included in a raid. Even though this was small and consisted of getting rid of a few muggle squatters it gave him a sense of freedom.

His role as a spy made it hard for him to actively participate in things like this during the first war, but with the secrecy going on right now he was able to participate here and there. This time it was just himself, Lucius, and Nott. The three of them had been tasked with getting rid of any filth that might have invaded the Riddle Manor in the dark lord's absence from it. That was why they were currently walking up the long dirt road that led to the manor. They could have apparated there, but were afraid the sound might scare the muggles off.

They were currently discussing how muggles would have gotten into the manor to begin with.

"Surely the dark lord had very strong wards around this place. I don't see any way that muggles could have gotten in without the help of a wizard." Nott was arguing.

Sirius had to agree with him on that, but Lucius also raised a good point. "When the Dark Lord was weakened his wards may have faltered allowing these vile creatures to get in. We shall see in a few moments though, we have almost reached the front door." And sure enough they were only about fifteen meters away from the entrance.

Not risking touching anything that he didn't have to Sirius flicked his wand at the door causing it to open. It was better to be safe than sorry with anything that involved the dark lord. After waiting a minute with nothing happening the three proceeded to move cautiously into the room.

Almost at once the ominous feeling hit them. It was like the effects of a dementor, but on a more controlled scale. The group was instantly on the alert. They went through the first few rooms with no issues. It was mostly broken furniture and cobwebs inside. It wasn't at all a place they could imagine their master wanting to stay at.

When they went to open the door to the kitchen though they found the first signs of someone living there. On the counter were open cans and packages. There were dishes in the sink and they were still wet. The three shared a look and decided it might be faster to split up and search the manor. Lucius said he would finish the ground floor while Sirius and Nott would split the second.

Sirius took the left side of the hall upstairs and began his search down it. He found no one in his first few rooms, but as he started to move the door on the fifth room he saw a shape take off into one of the corners and then a loud smash was heard as something shattered against the wall. He threw the door open the rest of the way and had his wand up as he entered. He ducked another flying object before turning to figure out where it had come from. In the corner was a crazed looking man.

He was half emaciated with a gray beard. His hair was frizzed and looked as though the man spent a better part of the day trying to rip it out. He was permanently cross eyed and was missing many of his teeth. There was a strong smell of alcohol in the room that assaulted Sirius's nose as soon as he entered. He wasn't going to waste any time though. The sooner they finished this the faster they could get out of this creepy building. A flash of green left his wand and then the man's body dropped to the floor lifelessly. He had thought it had just been the man in the room, but a strangled sob caught his attention. He turned towards the source of the sound and found a closet. He heard someone backpedal and fall over something as he approached the door.

He couldn't lie that he was enjoying the feeling of power he was getting from the fear he caused. This was part of the reason he had switched sides. He loved the feeling of having someone's life in your hands. He slowly opened the door to find a young woman inside clutching her knees tightly to her chest.

"Please don't hurt me. I won't tell anyone what I saw. I just want to leave. Please. He wouldn't let me leave. He has been keeping me here." The woman was in tears by the end of her rambling and couldn't control her sobs.

She wasn't in much better shape than the man who had been throwing things at him. She had a slightly healthier body weight. He couldn't see her ribs poking through her clothing at the very least. Her hair was matted and thick with grease from a lack of a proper cleaning. Her eyes held a panicked look in them. The clothes she had on were dirty and stained. There were splotches all over her faded dress that Sirius could only guess came from the man he had killed. For a split second he felt pity for the women. Perhaps he might have let her leave if she hadn't seen what he had done. Alas she would have to die because she knew of him.

"Close your eyes. I am going to send you home. You will be at peace, now close your eyes." The girl looked at him and couldn't fight back the sobs. She closed her eyes but the expression on her face told him exactly what he needed to know. She knew she was going to die. He whispered the words and let the light engulf her. She fell backwards onto the pile of rubbish in the closet and lay still. He looked on with disgust before turning around and continuing on down the hallway.

He didn't come across anymore squatters though. He was heading back down the hall to meet up with Lucius and Nott when he heard it, loud cracks outside the building. He scrambled into a room and took a peak out of the window. Sure enough there were about six Aurors advancing on the building. He ran back out into the hall way to alert his friends.

"BE PREPARED WE HAVE AURORS! MASKS ON!" He yelled out as loud as he could. It didn't matter if the aurors heard him since they already had an idea that someone was present.

He quickly threw his hood over his head and pulled the white mask from his pocket. Sliding it into place he ran the rest of the way down the hallway to wait for the inevitable. From his vantage point at the top of the stairs he saw Lucius hidden behind a sofa in the living room. Nott was already downstairs posted up around the corner in the study. Their best chance was going to be catching the aurors in a crossfire as soon as they entered the building.

Soon enough the aurors began to file through the door as soon as the fourth one came through the three of them launched their assault. The first one in the door had managed to get far enough in to avoid the initial assault, but the second and third ones weren't so lucky. One was caught right off by Nott's entrail expelling curse. The man's stomach exploded and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed onto the floor in a pile of blood, guts, and organs. The third one didn't fare much better as he was caught with a dark cutter. It severed his arm at the elbow and caused him to drop to the ground in pain.

They had somewhat evened the odds now though. The other aurors were now running into the room shouting random curses into the dark corners of the room hoping to hit something. They were thrown by the carefully planned assault.

He shot a curse at the furthest one in and the figure managed to dodge and fire back with a nasty looking violet spell. She charged up the stairs after him just like he had hoped she would. That would leave Nott and Malfoy to deal with three downstairs. He was positive they could handle it as they had been up against much worse before.

He ducked into the first room on the right and waited for her to run by. He hadn't planned on her carefully checking each room though. He had assumed she would just keep charging down the hall. So when he saw her slip into the room across the hall he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face under the mask. Quickly and quietly he entered the room behind her. Before she had the chance to turn around he hit her with a binding curse. It was a slightly stronger version of the one taught at Hogwarts so that it would last longer. He shut the door and locked it before silencing her. Carefully he levitated her onto the bed.

Sirius would never rape or take advantage of any woman. He thought it was a disgusting act, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy scaring the woman before she died. He slowly began using his wand to cut away her clothes leaving her lying almost naked in front of him By now tears were leaking from her eyes as she came to accept what was about to happen to her. Instead though Sirius bound her wrists and legs and then undid the binding curse.

"What do you want from me you sick freak?!" She spit at him, but the fear in her voice made any attempt at being brave just comical.

"How did you know we were here?" Sirius demanded. He needed to know how the aurors were able to trace them.

"Like I'd tell you anything filthy scumbag."

Sirius barked out a laugh at her pitiful attempt. "Oh you're going to tell me. Crucio!" The angry looking orange spell shot from his wand and travelled the short distance between the two of them. As soon as it hit her the women began to shriek and cry out. Her tears increased ten-fold as Sirius held her under it. He only held the curse for ten seconds before he asked her again.

"This place is heavily monitored, please, I don't know why. Someone wanted this place looked after for any signs of magical activity. When we saw spells were being cast here we were sent to investigate. I swear that's all I know."

It was disgusting how easily the woman had given into his demands but he couldn't argue with the fact that he was glad he had what he wanted. He turned his eyes back onto her.

"Now what should I do with you? I obviously can't let you live, but should it be painless since you have been so helpful? I'll leave it up to you. Do you want it quick or would you rather the pain? I know some of you are freaky like that."

The girl shook her head at him as she stared resolutely at the floor. "You're all disgusting. How you can joke while you commit these vile acts is beyond me. Do you not care at all about anyone?"

Sirius wasn't in the mood to try and explain why he did what he did to her. "Quiet. I told you that you had a choice; however you chose to not make it so now I'm making it for you. Crucio!"

He enjoyed the sounds of her screams for another thirty seconds. By that time her voice had gone hoarse and she was lying still on the floor. "Pathetic." Sirius hissed at her before once more the deadly green light left his wand and claimed its third victim of the night.

Downstairs Malfoy and Nott had been holding their own very nicely. They had managed to take out two of the three very quickly. One fell when he was stuck between two killing curses. Instead of ducking he had tried to move out of the way only to get caught in the torso by one. The second one was distracted by his teammate's death and fell victim to a blood boiler. His body was now half ash and half flesh as it continued to burn away. The last one though had proved to be a worthy opponent. He easily dodged and shielded against their spells. Nott had lost track of where the man had gotten to and had a sickening feeling in his stomach when he heard a whoosh of air behind his head. He prepared himself for the worst, but it never came as a shield sprung to life in front of the spell. Sirius was striding down the stairs towards him. They now had the last auror pinned into a corner. Just before they ended his life though he managed to send off a patronus requesting backup.

"Damn it all, we're going to have to leave this place. There's no telling how many they will send now." Lucius cursed.

All three gathered in the entrance room and activated their portkeys knowing that when they arrived and reported their failure they would be punished.

**HOGWARTS**

Dumbledore sat at his desk with a pensive look on his face. The head of the DMLE had just flooed him to tell him about magic being performed at the Riddle Manor. It had been many years since he had asked to be made aware of anything that went on there. He could never forget about it, but he had hoped it would be many more before he had heard anything. Now though it seemed like something was going on.

His eyes scanned the report he had been given a copy of. Three muggles found dead along with six aurors. No one had been captured and all the people who had been present at the time were now dead. He knew that it was death eaters but the Ministry would here none of that. In Fudge's eyes Voldemort and all of his followers were dead. The man was a fool if he truly believed that though.

A follow up team had been sent in to investigate when a patronus asking for help had come through, but by the time they arrived the offenders were gone. It just didn't make sense though. What was so important to Tom about an old mansion owned by his muggle father? The man had detested his father from early on. It was just another mystery that Dumbledore would have to figure out. For now though, he had the perfect opportunity to check on Sirius. If the man was home he was most assuredly not responsible for this, but if he was gone then there would be reason to doubt him.

Dumbledore rose from his chair and called for Fawkes to come to him. The bird landed on his shoulder and with a flash of fire he disappeared.

**GRIMMAULD PLACE**

After arriving at Malfoy manor Sirius had quickly explained to the dark lord the need for him to return to Grimmauld in case Dumbledore came to visit. He promised to return as soon as possible to receive his punishment. He was granted his leave and immediately headed for the fireplace. Not a moment too late either. He barely had enough time to make it to the kitchen when Dumbledore appeared in a brilliant burst of flame in the living room.

"Albus?" Sirius called out surprised by the appearance having expected the man to take the floo.

"Ah Sirius my boy. It is good to see you here. I won't beat around the bush since I fear you are too smart for that. There was an attack today on some aurors when they were sent to investigate a disturbance in a muggle area. I had thought maybe you would be there, but I am happy to see you are here."

Sirius was furious at the man on the inside. "So you didn't trust me Albus? What have I ever done to lose so much of your faith? I was proven innocent in my trial if you do not remember."

Dumbledore did not back down though. "The circumstances of your trial were very peculiar and I just needed further proof that you are still entrenched firmly in the light. I promise from this day on I will not doubt you though. You have proved twice over now that you can be trusted to do the right thing when it is needed."

Sirius just nodded his head not trusting himself to speak. He knew the man was only saying that to reassure him. From now on he would never be fully trusted by Dumbledore, but he didn't need the man's full trust he just needed everyone else to believe him. A pop caused them to both draw their wands and be at the ready.

A miserable looking house elf was standing in the room holding an envelope.

"Master Black, Kreacher is having a letter from your godson sir. Would you be liking it now or later?"

"Thank you Kreacher, I'll take it now though if you don't mind." He reached down to grab the letter from the elf that then bowed to Sirius, scowled at Dumbledore, and then left.

Sirius opened it and began to read what Harry had written to him. Completely ignoring the fact that Albus was still standing in the room. When he finished he looked up at the old man. "So Albus how is Harry doing in school? From his letter it sounds like he is doing good, but you can never be sure. I know what it's like after all. I used to write letters home saying I was doing fine all semester; there was never a way to hide the end grade though."

If there was one thing Dumbledore loved more than lemon drops it was talking about his students. He especially liked to talk about the ones who were excelling and Harry Potter certainly fell into that category. "Harry is doing quite well Sirius. He is the top of his year like he has been in the past years. In fact he is further ahead this year than any of the past ones I believe. The boy is remarkably talented. However he has been in a few incidents this year. One quite recently actually; just this morning he managed to get in a duel with Neville Longbottom. He was injured when a spell ricocheted off of the Goblet of Fire and the backlash collided with him. It was nothing terribly serious, but he was knocked unconscious for a few hours and given a concussion when his head collided with a bench."

Sirius had thought he was furious earlier, but that was nothing to how he felt at the moment. "All of this happened and you didn't think I would want to know? What is happening to Longbottom? Surely the boy is being adequately punished for hurting Harry."

Dumbledore held up his hands in a placating gesture to try and calm Sirius down. "I assure you Sirius, Neville is being held responsible for his actions today. After interviewing the students who were present it was confirmed that Harry only defended himself when he was attacked so he will not be punished."

Sirius nodded at that feeling slightly placated that at least Harry wasn't getting into trouble for this. "Next time I expect to be informed when something like this happens Albus. Now if you have nothing else I'd like to respond to Harry's letter and then get some rest if you don't mind."

Dumbledore bid the man a good evening and then allowed Fawkes to take him back to the castle. His trip hadn't gone exactly as he had hope, but it was better than nothing. He had been sincerely hoping to find something to use against Sirius, but it seemed like his fears might actually be unwarranted.

* * *

The week had gone fast for Harry. Nothing spectacular had happened since his fight with Longbottom. The only differences in the week were that now Fleur chose to sit at the Slytherin table with him instead of at the Gryffindor. Gabby had also come over and asked if it would be okay if she sat with them.

Tracey had indeed dragged Harry to Hogsmeade to get his robes. She had picked out a dark midnight blue dress. It was very form fitting as opposed to some of the looser ones that hung off a person's body like Harry had seen.

After she had gotten her dress the two of them had spent all day finding the perfect set of dress robes to go with it. Eventually they had settled on a set of black robes with matching blue cuffs trimmed in silver. Underneath he would be wearing a blue shirt that matched the dress and a pair of black slacks. It was simple but even Harry had to admit when paired with Tracy in her dress the two made one breath taking pair to look at.

Terry Boot had finally contacted him midway through the week and told him to make sure Pansy was at dinner on Thursday. That was why Harry was currently escorting said girl to dinner. He had made a promise and he planned on keeping it. He just hoped that his idea worked. He knew Pansy was still into Draco even though the boy had talked to her about how he felt, so it was still up in the air if she would go with Boot or not. If he pulled off something truly spectacular though Harry saw no reason why she wouldn't say yes.

It was about halfway through dinner and Boot had yet to make an appearance. Harry was just beginning to wonder if the boy had gotten cold feet when the doors to the great hall burst open. First came Boot, decked out in some fancy looking robes with his hair slicked back. In his hand he had a small bouquet of purple flowers. The more impressive spectacle was behind him though. Following him in a straight line were twelve suits of armor.

Harry had no idea where this was going, but figured at the very least it was going to be worth a good laugh or two. Everyone watched as Boot and his knights walked up the aisle between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. He came to a stop in front of Pansy who was now staring at him open mouthed and wide-eyed. The knights split up so that there were six on each side of him. Boot handed the flowers to Pansy who for one of the few times Harry could remember, blushed bright red. Just when Harry thought it was over Boot pulled a Wizarding Wireless out of his bag and turned it on. At the sound of the music the suits of armor immediately began to dance. Not only did the suits start to dance, but Boot was dancing along with them right in from of Pansy. The whole spectacle only last maybe a minute and a half, but Harry had to admit that Boot knew how to dance.

When the song ended he switched the wireless off and once again the suits returned to attention. He then offered Pansy his hand who took it graciously and allowed herself to be pulled up from her seat.

"Pansy Parkinson will you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the Yule Ball?"

He barely got the question out before Pansy jumped into his arms screaming "YES!"

All around the room applause broke out and people could be heard cat calling when Pansy in an un-Slytherin like fashion kissed Boot right on the lips.

Harry was glad it had worked out and winked at Boot when the boy made eye contact with him. Not only was he glad it had worked out, but he was extremely grateful that he already had a date. "Any bloke who has to ask a girl to the ball after that spectacle is doomed to fail." All around him the guys who heard just mumbled their agreement. He was sure he heard some of the older years cursing Boot for setting ridiculously high standards that no guy could expect to live up to.

When the applause had finally died down and the suits of armor left the room, to go back to wherever they came from Dumbledore stood up.

"Aww we were all treated to a lovely show this evening. Well done Mr. Boot on your performance. Perhaps there will be a repeat at the actual ball. Now onto pressing matters. Tonight is the last chance for those wishing to compete to submit their names in the Goblet. The flame will extinguish at curfew tonight and then tomorrow night at dinner it will relight and announce the champions. So is there anyone here who would like to enter?"

No one moved from their seats so Harry assumed everyone who was going to enter already had. He knew Fleur had put her name in; part of him was worried because of what he knew about the tournament, but he knew Fleur would remain safe as long as Sirius was involved. He couldn't afford to have her hurt and ruin the tentative truce they had with France.

After dinner Harry offered to walk Fleur back to her carriage. She had been about to say yes, but then stopped and told him to wait. She had ran off leaving him very confused. When she came back though her smile was much larger.

"Come on let's go to your room. I told Madam Maxime I wanted to spend time with my Slytherin friends tonight and she said it was fine as long as I sleep in the girls' dorm. However what she does not know will not hurt us."

Harry was surprised by Fleur's sudden disregard for the rules, but he couldn't deny liking the outcome. He happily led her down the hall towards his room. Once inside he kicked off his shoes and shed his robes so he could relax.

"I'm going to shower and change into more comfortable clothes real quick Fleur. Feel free to make yourself comfortable." He didn't turn around and never saw the mischievous smirk on her face because of it.

**SMUT**

As the water pounded down on his head and back he let himself hum the tune to the song that Boot had played in the hall. He missed the sound of the door opening and closing. It wasn't until he felt a pair of arms wrap around his body that he was aware someone else had joined him. He turned around in her embrace to get a good look at Fleur. He leaned down to capture her lips as the spray of water continued to rain down on them. He was very quickly becoming excited as she moved and wiggled against him. She turned around so that her back was pressed against him and began to grind slowly on him. He let his hands wonder over her body as she did this. One coming to rest on her breast while the other went lower. He used his second hand to rub her clit. This had the effect he was looking for as she moaned and leaned her head back giving him full access to her neck. He leaned down and kissed it gently at first and then he began to work his way up towards her earlobe which he took into his mouth and gave a few quick sucks before working his way back down her neck.

Fleur had one hand on his head forcing him to keep kissing her while the other had taken hold of his dick and was stroking it lightly. This went on for about five minutes before Harry reached out with his hand and summoned a bottle of body wash to him. Fleur gasped as he poured the cold liquid onto her skin and then began to rub it in. She loved the feeling of having his hands all over her body. Once she was all covered in the suds and bubbles he pulled her back under the spray of water to rinse her off.

She repeated the same process to him paying special attention when it came to his dick. Once the two of them had rinsed off Harry shut the water off and grabbed two towels. They dried off fairly quickly, but Fleur stopped him when he was about to put boxers back on. Instead she took his hand and led him to the bed. She pushed him down onto it before crawling on top of him. He was going to say something when she silenced him with a kiss. She reached down and grabbed his cock, giving him a few strokes to make sure he was fully hard. Then she positioned herself over him and looked down at the boy she'd come to care so much about.

"Fleur…are you sure? I don't want you to do this if you aren't…oh my…" He stopped when she slid down onto him. It was slow at first. It was her first time having sex and she wasn't used to it. At first it was painful as she stretched to fit him inside of her, but as she became wetter and wetter the pleasure began to build inside of her. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. She slowly began to pick up speed as she rode him.

When one of his arms looped around her back and pulled her down she was slightly surprised, but didn't fight it. Harry began to thrust in and out of her; this caused Fleur to moan. She had thought what they had done before had felt good, but it was nothing compared to what Harry was doing to her right now. As he rolled them over and put her legs beside her head she couldn't take it anymore.

"Mmhmm, Harry that's wonderful. Never stop, oh my god!"

Harry could only smile and lean down to kiss the angel below him as she climaxed for the first time. Her body shook from the pleasure. He kept going for a few more minutes before he was ready to cum. He went to pull out, but Fleur's grip on his hips stopped him.

"No Harry it's okay. I took the birth control potion. Please I want to feel you inside of me." She said the last part so quietly he barely heard it, but it put him over the edge and he let himself go inside of her. She gripped him and dug her nails into his back and he thrust into her deeply one last time.

**END SMUT**

The two of them lay together just saying nothing. Harry was content to spend the rest of his time just lying in bed with her, but there was something he was dying to know.

"Fleur?" He nudged her with this nose since she had started to drift off on his shoulder.

"Hmm, what is it?" She mumbled at him sleepily never once opening her eyes.

"Why tonight? We've had plenty of opportunity before now, so why did you choose tonight?"

Her eyes opened for a second searching his before she shut hers tight again. "I don't know really. I am nervous about the tournament and I just wanted to know that even if I don't get selected, or if I do and I don't win, you'll still want me."

"Fleur look at me." She reluctantly opened her eyes to find his face only an inch or two from hers. "You didn't have to do this to make sure I would be here for you. I'm not going to leave you unless you give me a reason to."

He leaned in and closed the little space between them briefly kissing her on the lips. When he pulled back Fleur snuggled deeper into his embrace. He smiled down at her before waving his wand and all at once the lights in the room extinguished themselves.

* * *

Fleur was practically shaking in anticipation as she sat at the table the next evening. The only thing keeping her sane was that Harry had his hand on her thigh and was rubbing comforting circles there to distract her. Unfortunately when Dumbledore stood up and a hush fell over the hall not even that could distract her.

The lights in the hall dimmed and then the Goblet burst to life. Dumbledore walked down to stand next to it.

"Now the moment we have all been waiting for. The Goblet will be announcing the champions. When your name is called please get up and then make your way to the door to my right. Once all the champions have been selected I will join the champions in the room and they will be briefed on the rules and when the tasks will take place."

Everyone watched with rapt attention as the goblet flared a little bit, and then the blue flames turned orange and a piece of paper shot out of it. It floated down into the hands of the Headmaster who read it out loud.

"The champion for Durmstrang School will be Viktor Krum!" Cheers went up all around the room as Krum rose from his seat and walked confidently towards the door at the side of the room. He stopped on the way to shake Dumbledore's hand and collect the piece of paper with his name on it.

Once more the goblet flared and turned orange and then shot out a second piece of parchment.

"The champion from Beauxbaxtons is Miss Fleur Delacour!"

Fleur couldn't believe it. Her breathe caught in her throat when her name was called and she only managed to get up because Harry was prodding her. She took the paper from the Headmaster and went to the side door as well.

"That is two down and one more to go. Ah and here we are." Dumbledore caught the third piece of parchment as it floated down to him. "The champion for Hogwarts is Mr. Cedric Diggory!" The amount of applause coming from the Hufflepuff table was absurd. Although considering they almost never won anything this was probably a very monumental victory for their house. Harry clapped politely with the rest of Slytherin. Everyone watched as who they thought was the last champion entered the room. Harry though kept his eyes on the goblet. Sure enough just as Dumbledore started to wish everyone a good night it flared up again and a fourth piece of paper flew from it.

If at all possible Dumbledore seemed to age fifty years when he read the name on it. "Neville Longbottom."

Every eye in the hall was staring at the boy-who-lived, who was now staring in something akin to awe at the headmaster. Harry watched as the boy mutely walked to the front of the room and then made his way to the side door with Dumbledore right behind him. Professor McGonagall stepped up and dismissed everyone. Harry heard a lot of angry mutterings about how Longbottom must have cheated and how it wasn't fair that Hufflepuff had their victory stolen from them, but he didn't care. He had only one thought on his mind. He had to prepare now and start figuring out what the task was going to be.


	26. Chapter 26

Two figures walked across the grounds, silhouetted by the light of the moon. Both were blissfully unaware of the straggler that had silently and swiftly followed along behind them ever since they had met at the half-giant's hut.

Hagrid was escorting Madame Maxim across the grounds and towards the edge of the forest. Harry was following along behind them in his fox form hoping to gain some insight into the task that was coming. He would have had no idea that this meeting was occurring except Fleur had mentioned it to him at lunch, she thought they were sneaking off for 'other' purposes, but Harry had a hunch there was more to it than that.

The moon wasn't too terribly bright and not even half so it was easy for him to slink along in the almost darkness and not be detected. He maintained a large enough gap from the two that he could only catch hints of what they were saying. He had managed to figure out that Hagrid was trying to impress the female Headmistress; clearly the drunken man had a crush on the woman. He was taking her to show her something interesting in the forest apparently.

Harry hadn't ever dealt with the man personally, but from what he had heard from other students the man was slightly off. He had a love of things that were extremely dangerous and could kill a wizard or witch without a second thought. So if something had caught Hagrid's attention in the forest then it was almost certainly here for the task that lay ahead.

It was a longer walk to their destination than Harry had anticipated, but reasoned that it made sense if they didn't want this to be discarded. For the first time Harry wondered if Hagrid knew he was about to give another school the advantage by showing the Headmistress what the task would involve. He just took comfort in the fact that it meant Fleur wouldn't be wholly unprepared for it. However he would need to make sure Longbottom had a fool-proof plan that he could not possibly botch up.

After about fifteen minutes of walking Harry finally felt something. He suddenly had a strong urge to turn around and leave the area. He couldn't even remember why he had been out here to begin with. He shook his head though and attempted to clear his mind. There had been a reason he was here…something important. Resolutely he took a step forward and the desire to turn around became stronger. Once again he tried to clear his head which wasn't easy while fighting against animalistic urges to flee and survive. He had a goal even if he couldn't remember exactly what it was at the moment. He lifted his head and saw the two large figures ahead of him getting further away, and then he remembered. He had to follow those two. With a new determination he took step after step further in until the urge to turn around finally ceased.

He moved a little quicker than he had been previously in an attempt to make up the ground he had lost fighting through whatever ward had been placed around the area. When he finally closed the distance and could see into the opening ahead of him he stopped dead in his tracks. It was like Hogwarts had suddenly decided to open a magical zoo in the forest. There were cages with different beasts everywhere around the area. Wizards and witches were scrambling back and forth checking on the different creatures to make sure none of them were trying to escape.

Closest to him was a wooden pen with a hippogriff inside of it. Normally hippogriffs weren't very dangerous, but if they judged you unworthy or disrespectful then they would attack with no problems. If one of those talons was to sink into a champion they were almost certain to need immediate medical help. Next to the hippogriff pen, to the immediate right, was a large steel box. As Harry slinked closer to it he could feel the slight cold come over him. It was reduced due to him being in an animal form, but he didn't have to try and sneak around to the front side of the box to know what was waiting inside of it.

Dementors were definitely not easy to deal with. Especially since there aren't any spells to kill them, the champions would be face with two choices. Either they could try and force their way by the creatures or learn a patronus charm. As Harry continued to scan the assortment of creatures he became more and more curious as to what they could possibly be used for.

He moved close to see if he could hear Hagrid give anything away about what the task was going to be. At first the half-giant said nothing of interest, he just went on to describe all the 'fascinating' creatures to Madam Maxime who looked quite bored. She did put on a good show when Hagrid would suddenly turn to look at her though. She would immediately brighten up and pretend to be interested.

Finally Harry was thrown a bone when a tall red headed man approached the two. "Hagrid what are you doing? You can't be bringing her back here, no offense ma'am."

Hagrid just laughed hesitantly at the man before replying. "Oh come on Charlie, Maxime ain't gonna tell about any of this. She was just interested in seeing the creatures."

Charlie looked like he wanted to argue more but instead he took a deep breath and shook his head. "Whatever Hagrid, just don't come back here anymore. We're real busy trying to get all the enchantments and safety precautions in measure."

"Ya how's that going? You lot got that cave all set up yet?"

Charlie slapped his face with the palm of his hand as Hagrid gave more and more information away about the task. "Hagrid I told you to not mention that to anyone, but I guess you ruined it now. Yes we have the cave set up, but we are working on keeping each creature in the area it's supposed to be in. No need to have them wandering off and causing serious damage."

Madame Maxime was longer feigning interest by this point. She spoke up for the first time since the conversation had started. "So these magnificent beasts are all going to be put in one cave and the champions will have to work their way through it?"

Charlie nodded his head to confirm the statement. "That's part of it, but there is a surprise catch to it all. The cave is going to be spelled to be dark. So the champions will have to think on their feet to find a way to produce enough light to see through the darkness. A simple lumos would work, but it takes away the ability to use their wand. So they will have to figure out an alternate method." A loud roar in the distance caught everyone's attention and stopped further discussion for the moment.

Harry turned his head towards the sound of the noise and if possible his jaw dropped. There were about twenty people on brooms flying in a box and suspended between them was a large box easily seven or eight times the size of the one that held the dementors in it.

Charlie just smiled as he saw it approaching. "There's the last part of our cave of horrors right now. The Norwegian Ridgeback in that cage will be blocking the exit to the cave and guarding a nest of eggs. One of the eggs will be a fake and the champion will have to get it before leaving the cave." He rushed over to help settle the cage into place as the broom riders descended and brought the box to a soft landing.

Harry watched fascinated as everyone rushed over and began to fire stunning spells at the beast. It tried to fight off the effects, but in a matter of seconds the effects of some thirty or more stunners were taking the dragon to sleep. With one last snort and a slight burst of fire the dragon's eyes closed and it fell forward onto its front legs to rest.

Harry had enough knowledge now of what was going on in the task. He turned around to leave when something caught his attention off to the left of him. There was a movement and a rush of air from behind a tree. Interest piqued at who else was spying Harry began to chase down the disillusioned figure. Once they were about three hundred meters away from the clearing the person dropped whatever charms they had on them and began to run full speed away from the forest. Harry was able to keep up easily in his form. He couldn't make any features out for the moment except that whoever it was appeared to be male judging by basic body structure.

Once the boy broke the edge of the forest he ran for cover behind some rocks along the shoreline of the lake. The hurried breathing and gasps for air let Harry know whoever he was following wasn't in great shape and would now be an easy target to overcome if he did happened to be discovered.

He was shocked when he caught his first glimpse of the other spy. Longbottom lay pressed against the rocks holding his chest as it rose and fell with each deep breath he took. He was shaking and looked like he was about to go into shock at any moment. Harry supposed it was a normal reaction for someone who just found out there going to have to face down a dragon in the dark. There were a lot of risks involved in this task and a great chance for something to go wrong.

Harry wasn't sure yet how he was going to make sure Longbottom got through the task, but knew he had his work cut out for him. There were at least five different types of creatures he was going to have to get him by in order to finish the task. The dragon, dementors, acromantulas, a hippogriff, and multiple blast-ended skrewts were the creatures that had been present in the clearing and Harry sincerely hoped they didn't bring in anymore.

He would start working on his plan of action tomorrow, but it was getting extremely late already. Harry started his walk back to the school and only stopped once to transform back a few feet from the door before entering. He quickly started down the hall towards the dungeons. No one patrolled this way at night because they were afraid of being ambushed by the Slytherins. As he continued his walk he had one thought at the front of his mind. How had Longbottom known to follow the half-giant?

**Headmaster's Office (Previous Evening)**

Dumbledore toyed with the edge of the plastic wrapper of the lemon drop in his hand. He was lost in thought about the tournament. It had started off as such a good idea to encourage relations with foreign schools. Having allies who were willing to assist in a time of need was an invaluable resource. Now though it looked like all those bridges were going to be burned before they could even start to form.

Somehow Neville's name had been entered into the tournament. He hadn't had time to investigate it properly, but had assigned Alastor the task of handling the cup. The only thing keeping the other delegations here now was that their champions were legally bound to compete. For the life of him he couldn't think of anyone who would want to put Neville at such a great risk. Well that wasn't entirely true…he knew one person who would have no qualms about it, but the dark lord was currently a wraith traveling from host to host barely living. There was no way Voldemort could have entered him yet somehow it was the only thing that made sense.

A knock at his door brought him out of his thoughts. With a quick check of his wards he saw it was just Alastor on the other side. He called the man in and waited for him to take his seat before questioning him.

"So what have you discovered my friend?" He was genuinely curious as to how exactly the cup had been fooled.

Moody took a sip from his flask before he started to explain what had been done. "It's not good Albus. This was definitely the work of a strong dark wizard. When I inspected the cup I found traces of a powerful confounding charm. It was used to make the goblet think there were four schools competing instead of three. Mr. Longbottom was the only one who entered from this fourth school so naturally he was guaranteed to be selected."

Dumbledore aged right in front of Moody as the seriousness of the situation hit him. "So it is as we have feared then. Someone has entered Mr. Longbottom in this tournament in the hopes that he does not make it through."

Moody nodded and grunted gruffly. "Seems to be that way Albus. I know you think Karkaroff is reformed but we can't rule out the possibility that he did this in hopes of getting back into his master's good graces."

Dumbledore nodded but did not say anything for a minute as he looked out his window and at the Durmstrang ship which rested in the lake. The flag flapped gently in the evening breeze and the symbol on the flag sent a wash of old memories back to him as he remembered his friend and greatest enemy. Now was not the time for reminiscing or being lost in the past though. He had work to do if he was to make sure that Neville survived this tournament.

"Alastor I need you to find ways to help Mr. Longbottom get through this. I am not asking you to outright tell the boy how to do it. However if you were to give him helpful hints about where to look so that he could prepare…"

On the outside Moody looked calm and slightly miffed at the idea of cheating, but on the inside Barty was practically shouting for joy. He was being told to make sure the boy made it to the end. This was exactly what had needed to happen and now he was put in a position to ensure that it did.

"No problem Albus, I'll make sure he doesn't go and get himself offed. He'll need constant vigilance if he's to get through this."

Dumbledore gave a side-long glance at his pensive before speaking again. "If that is all you have for me my friend then I will bid you a farewell for the night as I have some memories to review and look for clues as to who exactly tampered with our goblet."

He walked over to the marble bowl and placed his hands on the edge. The memory he would be viewing was already sitting in the bowl. He took a deep breath and then lowered his face into the silver liquid. There was a momentary feeling of disorientation as he tumbled into the memory. It stopped quickly enough though and he was able to regain his bearing and sense of direction. He stood off to the side to watch the memory unfold. He was going to observe everyone's reactions to the boy-who-lived being entered when they first saw him that night his name had come out of the goblet.

_Memory Scene_

_Dumbledore followed along silently behind Neville. The boy was nervous, he hadn't entered his name in the goblet and somehow it had come out. As Neville approached the side door where all the other champions had disappeared through he had the urge to run. Maybe if he turned around and ran they would just disqualify him._

_No, he couldn't do that. He was supposed to be a hero and heroes did not run away from things. He pushed open the door and prepared himself to face whatever might greet him. All eyes in the small room locked on him as he stepped through the door. Surprisingly it was Fleur who spoke first, but her tone held no friendliness in it._

"_What is it? Do they want us back out there?"_

_Neville flinched when she spoke to him, but never got a chance to answer as Ludo Bagman came bustling into the room. "Truly amazing, it should be impossible but what's done is done. Ladies and gentleman may I present to you Neville Longbottom…the fourth Tri-wizard champion."_

_That was the moment everything went to hell. Dumbledore froze the memory to carefully examine everyone's expressions at the revelation. He briefly glanced at Madam Maxime and her champion and knew right away they weren't involved. The outright anger on both of their faces was too raw to be faked. _

_Viktor Krum had a scowl on his face as he eyed the boy-who-lived distastefully. However the boy didn't appear to have had any problems with Neville until it was revealed that he would be in the tournament; so the disgust now was most likely to the Durmstrang champion believing Neville had cheated._

_Karkaroff on the other hand had his expression carefully masked. It came from years of being in the dark lord's service Dumbledore supposed. It would never be good to have an outburst of emotion in the middle of a death eater meeting. It was the man's eyes that really betrayed him though. There was a distinct hint of curiosity in them as he stared down at the fourth champion. As Dumbledore looked at him he couldn't help but remember the words Moody had just said to him. He would have to start keeping a closer eye on Igor it seemed. _

_Ludo Bagman was positively giddy about Neville being entered, but that was more for the publicity side of the tournament. The press would have a field day with the boy-who-lived being involved. Especially since there had been measures in place to prevent such a thing. No doubt the Daily Prophet would have an article out within a day or two with the full story._

_The last person who had remained surprisingly quiet thus far in the memory was Barty Crouch. The man had at one point been a formidable wizard and a hard-nosed politician. During the first war he had been head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Now though it appeared that his demotion to the department of International Magical Cooperation and age had taken its toll on him. His hair was greyed and his face had more wrinkles in it than someone his age should have had. As Dumbledore observed the man's reaction he couldn't quite place it but something was off. The man had an expression of shock on his face, but it seemed almost forced._

_Dumbledore moved closer to inspect the man and when he stood in front of him he finally knew what was wrong. He had seen the same look on the face of many innocent people throughout the last war and the war with Grindelwald. During the time of this memory the man was quite clearly under the Imperius curse. His eyes were dead of any real emotion and if it weren't for the command to act shocked the man would be standing here with a hollow expression on his face. He didn't need to see anymore. He focused carefully and soon he found himself falling again. This time however he rotated upwards and soon Dumbledore was standing back in his office._

_End Memory Scene_

There was no time to waste. Dumbledore quickly set to work on his plan to capture Crouch and hopefully break him from the Imperius. He summoned a parchment and a quill and scribbled a quick note to Amelia Bones, the new head of the DMLE.

"Fawkes please take this to Amelia Bones immediately. She will know what to do once she reads what I have written."

The phoenix, which was fast approaching its burning day, flew off of its perch and grabbed at the parchment. Once the note was firmly in its grasp the bird erupted into flames and out of the office. Dumbledore quickly left his office. He had to get to Barty Crouch quickly, there was still a chance the man was Imperiused and if that was the case he might be able to figure this mess out. As he raced along the halls he shouted to one of the portraits to alert Minerva of what was happening. Without waiting to see if the portrait would follow his instructions he continued down the hall.

When he finally stopped in front of the door to the room that Crouch was using for the duration of the tournament his heart plummeted. The door was slightly ajar already. He drew his wand and carefully opened the door while simultaneously bringing up a shield to block any fire from the intruder. His precautions weren't necessary though. It was evident there had been a struggle of sorts as many pieces of furniture were toppled over or had scorch marks on them from spells. Yet there was no sign of Crouch anywhere. He held little hope of finding the man, whoever had done this would make sure there was no chance they were discovered. A gasp from behind him drew his attention as Minerva got her first look at the scene.

"Albus what has happened here? Where is Crouch?"

He turned around sadly as he addressed his deputy headmistress. "It is with great displeasure that I must say I do not know. It was like this when I arrived and Mr. Crouch is nowhere to be found. We must go to the meet Amelia at the front gates though. I alerted to bring some people just in case I had been able to capture him. I do not like this; it has all the signs of the work of death eaters and I am worried since that would mean there is one in our school."

**HOGWART'S GROUNDS**

Alastor Moody walked quickly across the grounds. He was seemingly alone, but to anyone who was looking for it they would see the signs of a disillusioned person behind him. He made a beeline for the forest edge just behind Hagrid's hut. Once he was sure no one was looking or could see him from the castle he turned and dropped his charm.

His facial expression became one of loathing and hate as he looked upon his "father". The man who would have left him to rot in Azkaban if it hadn't been for his mother.

"How does it feel dad? I'm the one in control now. I'm no longer under your spells! Now I'm going to take great pleasure in doing this. Avada Kedavra!"

The green light left the tip of his wand and impacted Crouch Sr. in the chest. Barty Jr. watched with uncaring eyes as a feeling of pleasure washed over his body from the spell. When the body finally came to rest on the ground he quickly transfigured it into a bone. With a few more quick spells he had dug a whole underneath a close by bush and buried the bone. No one would be able to find the body now, even if it were to somehow revert back to its original form.

As he turned to leave he caught site of a group of people approaching the front gates. He would recognize those blue robes anywhere and started to curse under his breath. Dumbledore must have finished watching that memory faster than he predicted. The aurors were already here; which meant that the old fool was probably waiting just inside the doors. He would need to find another way into the castle and quickly if he was going to keep this up. Suspicion would already be cast on him because he was the only one who knew Dumbledore was going to be watching those memories. He would just have to hope that the man wouldn't even think about questioning his long standing friend.

**HOGWARTS (PRESENT TIME)**

Harry hadn't been able to sleep all the much throughout the night. He had laid down and tried his best to stop thinking about everything, but his mind was on overdrive. He had to figure out how Longbottom had known to be in the forest. It made his job easier now, but it also meant that someone else was trying to get the boy through. His first thought was that it had to be Moody (Barty Crouch Jr.). Perhaps the man was trying to assist in making sure the mission went right. That was the best case scenario for him.

He supposed it shouldn't bother him so much; since all it did was help him out really. Longbottom was already taking care of magical creatures so he would learn how to handle the skrewts on his own. On top of that the boy knew what other creatures he was going to be facing. They'd already covered the hippogriff, so as long as the idiot didn't freak out that would be the simple one to get by.

Harry had already demonstrated for him a curse to use against the dragon, but he would need a way to make sure the boy realized it. He should be able to figure it out if he did a little studying on weaknesses of the creature, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure he got it.

The dementors would be one of the hardest; there was no way for him to teach the boy-who-lived a patronus without being completely obvious about it. A warming charm could be applied to help keep the chill off of him, but he would have to use some form of mind magic to keep the images at bay. Dumbledore had been teaching the boy and Harry long suspected he had some form of mind shield, but this would really put it to the test. Perhaps if he brought a think of chocolate with him…it was well known that the substance greatly reduced the effects the dementors had on people. If Longbottom were to continuously nibble on some then maybe just maybe he would get through.

Acromantulas are known to be very violent and very quick. Their legs are extremely strong and would easily be able to pin any of the champions to the ground. However they have a few great fears, one of them being a basilisk. Harry laughed at the thought of the basilisk following Longbottom into the cave to help scare the spiders away. The other was fire; the fire would set their webs and bodies ablaze very quickly.

The creatures themselves were not going to be hard to beat, except maybe the dragon. That would take a little bit of skill since there won't be a whole lot of room to maneuver in the cave. The hardest part came in finding a sufficient light source to use. Harry knew that Granger would help Longbottom figure out the creatures weaknesses. It might take her longer than it took him, but she would eventually do it. He was focusing on making sure the boy would have a light source that wouldn't falter.

His first thought had been a hand of glory, but he quickly discarded that since the only place you could buy it was in Knockturn Alley and it was most likely illegal. He finished getting ready for the morning and had come up with a few solutions that were plausible, but he would have to find a way to get the ideas into Longbottom's head.

When he got to breakfast all of his friends were already there. He frowned slightly when he noticed Fleur was missing from her usual spot next to him, but shrugged it off as her sleeping in. Champions had been excused from their end of year exams and told they could miss class if they were in the process of preparing for a task.

He greeted everyone as he sat down and started putting some food on his plate. Blaise was the first one to say something back to him.

"You look like shit mate. Did you sleep at all last night? You've got bags under your eyes. Want me to teach you a charm real quick that will cover them up?" From her spot next to her boyfriend Daphne just rolled her eyes and muttered something about how her boyfriend shouldn't know more cosmetic charms than she did.

That got a round of laughter going from the people around them. It was almost the end of breakfast when Hedwig came soaring into the dining hall. It caught Harry off guard since he hadn't received a letter by owl in a long time. He had actually sent Hedwig to Sirius and told his godfather to use her for any messages he had to send since Harry mostly used his elves.

He couldn't figure out why Sirius would be sending him a message now. Usually the man would wait until Harry sent him a letter asking for advice on an issue.

Making sure no one else could read what was written down he carefully unfolded the parchment and began to read the message.

_Harry_

_Don't worry about anyone else knowing what is written here, if they try and read over your shoulder all they will see is a message from me asking how you are doing at school and what not._

_There was a serious issue (no pun intended…okay maybe slightly intended) a few nights ago. I don't know if Dumbledore is trying to keep it quiet in the school, but one of the judges for the tournament was killed. You've probably seen him wandering around before his name was Barty Crouch. This normally wouldn't be such a big deal, but he was under the Imperius from one of my associates. Somehow Dumbledore had figured this out and tried to get to him, but thankfully he wasn't able to. Just wanted to let you know to be on the look-out though and extremely careful as Dumbledore is going to be looking for anything suspicious now. He confided in me that he thinks there might be a death eater in his school. _

_I made some snide remark about of course there was, he hired Snape after all. He didn't appreciate that and told me I should take it more seriously since it involved your safety. I played the role of a protective and concerned godparent successfully I believe. Anyway that is the gist of what happened. I'm sure no one will tell you what really happened. Most likely they will try and sweep it under the carpet by bringing in a new judge and saying Crouch got sick or something. _

_Be Safe,_

_Sirius_

Harry frowned as he finished the letter. He knew who was responsible for the death even if Sirius hadn't said it. His eyes wandered to the head table where the man was currently sitting talking to Flitwick about something.

Harry didn't agree with Sirius about the covering up the mess though. He personally thought Dumbledore would bring this out in the open. Especially if he thought the dark lord was involved somehow. Although, the old man didn't really have any concrete proof. So maybe he would cover it up and try and buy himself some time until he had more evidence.

Either way he knew he would have to be careful, so the letter was just restating the obvious. With a careful flick of his wand it began to burn until nothing was left but ash. He banished the ashes and then finished his breakfast.

Theo smirked at his little display. "Damn Harry, whatever was in that letter was either really valuable or pissed you off. For the sake of whoever sent it I sincerely hope it was the first option."

Harry shrugged neither confirming nor denying. Instead he offered the simple solution. "It was just a letter from my godfather. I don't like family issues being found out by anyone else."

Draco cut in at that point. "That's a good tactic Harry no need to let anyone think they'll find a way to blackmail you. Father always burns letters at home after he is done with them."

Harry sighed as that probably hurt his case more than anything; since most people knew that Mr. Malfoy had been in the service of the dark lord. He cast a quick tempus to see how much time he had left until runes started. He only had about twenty minutes so he excused himself and told his friends he'd see them later. It only took him about ten minutes to make it to the classroom so he had plenty of time to get seated and pull out his supplies before class started.

He had been zoned out thinking about ways to make sure Longbottom had a working light source when Granger walked in. He hated her perhaps more than was rational at times. It most likely stemmed from the fact that she had been way too excitable when they had first met. He had just wanted to be left alone and she had just kept talking. It was his first experience with a muggleborn and it pretty much ruined any chance others would have. Yet he couldn't deny that the girl was smart. She was easily second or third best in every class. She and Longbottom were always competing for the second place spot. Well except for Potions, Draco had potions on lock thanks to the bias from Snape being his godfather.

She was going to make his task of helping Longbottom this year infinitely easier without even realizing it. All he would have to do was mention something that might help the idiot to a teacher during a discussion and the girl would take it and run with it. That's what he was planning on doing this period after all. He had come across a rune that was similar to the lumos spell. If he could find a way to tie it in with a levitation rune and something to make it follow Longbottom then the boy would have his own personal floating torch. It would leave both of his hands open for maneuvering and use.

The only problem was that he wasn't sure what rune he could use to make something follow along behind a person. The floating torch was easy enough; he already had the rune sketch for it. Today during class while they worked he was going to call Professor Babbling over and ask her about it. He would make sure his voice was just loud enough to catch the know-it-all's attention. She wouldn't be able to resist listening in on the off chance she learned something new.

If anyone had asked him why he was making it the answer was simple. First it involved three runes being carefully combined so it was advanced without being too dangerous. If they needed more than that he would simply state that he planned on visiting some caves with his godfather during the summer. He didn't think anyone would question it but there was no reason to not be prepared.

He had to wait until about halfway through the class for professor Babbling to finish the lecture. He quickly called her over so as to not waste any more time.

"Professor I have a question about this project I'm working on. I'm trying to combine three runes together for it instead of just two. I've already got the first two, but I can't seem to find the right third one to add to it."

His professor looked at him for a minute before deciding to answer. "Normally students don't begin work combining three runes until almost the end of this year Mr. Potter. However you have proven to me that you are no ordinary student. What is it you are looking to have these runes do? I will do my best to help you locate the missing piece to your puzzle."

Harry smiled at the praise to show he was grateful. "Thank you professor; I'm working on making a floating torch of sorts. I've already started to sketch out these two runes, one meaning light and the other levitation. I want it to be able to follow along next to me though so that I can have my hands free when I use it."

As soon as he had finished his description of what he was making he saw Granger stopped working on her project and tense slightly. The girl lacked any subtlety in the art of eavesdropping but at least she was doing exactly what he wanted.

Professor Babbling frowned at him for a second before going to her desk and pulling out a thicker tome. Harry recognized it as a runic dictionary he had seen for sale in Diagon Alley.

"Well Mr. Potter as you know most runes are used for two purposes. Those being warding of some sort or to hold messages. So there may not be a rune that does exactly what you're looking for, but perhaps we can improvise. Just give me a second to try and find it." Harry watched as she thumbed through the pages of the book looking for something to help him out. "Here we are. This rune right here is used in proximity wards. We'll begin studying those more in depth next year, but I believe you could use this. If you took the proximity rune on its own without the ones for the alarm you could potentially make it so the torch would not leave a certain distance around you. You would of course have to use your essence so that the torch knew what it needed to stay close to. For something like this you would need a few drops of blood to tie it all together. I would be most interested to see the end result of your experiment Mr. Potter. If you are able to pull this off I will excuse you from the end of the year exam and give you full marks."

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise at that. He hadn't expected to gain anything for himself out of this, but now he had the chance to secure his top place in Runes. He didn't need to look at Granger to know how jealous she was right now. It was practically rolling off of her in waves. "That's very generous of you Professor. I'll continue working on this and try and figure out the right way to combine the runes. I'll bring you the finished product as soon as I get it working."

The class ended soon after that and Harry had already made progress on the floating torch. As soon as the chime sounded signaling the end of class Granger practically took off sprinting. He smirked as he watched her go knowing she was headed to one of two places. Either she was going to the library to check out a copy of the runic dictionary that Professor Babbling had or she was going to find Longbottom and tell him about 'her' great breakthrough to help him.

He would be keeping an eye on the two of them to make sure that Longbottom actually got prepared for the task, but the hardest part was out of the way. The idea was there so now it was up to Longbottom to make the best of it. It felt like a little weight had been lifted off Harry's shoulders as he realized Longbottom would soon have all the knowledge he needed to get through the task.

Lunch was fairly boring for him. Fleur still hadn't shown up and now he was slightly curious and worried about where she was. He made up his mind to go visit her carriage after Arithmancy so he could make sure she was okay.

It turned out that Arithmancy was only a review period as they would be having a quiz in the next class period. Harry took half the time to study, but the other half was used sending messages back and forth with his Draco. The two of them hadn't had any time to practice their dueling or spell casting like last year yet and Harry was hoping to meet up that night and practice with him. It wouldn't do for him to have Draco unprepared to have his back in a fight.

After a little discussion the two agreed to meet up in the common room at six-thirty that night. Professor Snape had come by at lunch and told Harry there remedial potions lesson was cancelled and they would resume in two days; so it left him with an opening.

As soon as class ended Harry gathered his supplies and made his way out of the classroom. Draco and Theo were already outside waiting for him. Daphne and Tracey joined them a few moments later.

"You guys want to go throw a quaffle around on the pitch for a while? It's been forever since I've been on a broom and I'm thinking about trying out next year so I'll need to practice." Draco asked the group. That was news to Harry as the blonde hadn't mentioned wanting to play on the house team in a long time.

Daphne politely declined saying she had already agreed to meet up with Blaise so they could work on their defense essay together.

Tracey and Theo agreed to go though; they turned to look expectantly at Harry who just shook his head saying he had plans also.

"I'll walk down that way with you guys though. I'm going to visit Fleur and see what she's been up to all day."

Tracey just rolled her eyes at him but Draco couldn't resist the chance to make fun of him. "Aww poor wittle Harry is missing his girlfriend."

Harry sent a glare at his blond friend. "Says the one who's been whipped by Gabby since she got here. Wait here let me do an impression for you." Harry scrunched his face up in what was his best attempt at being 'cute' and made his voice about three times higher than normal. "Oh Draco, it's almost dark outside why don't you walk me to my carriage? Or Draco, I think I got this down but could you look over my homework again?"

Theo decided to join in at that point. "He does make a point mate. Gabby has you by the balls, people might start to wonder if there's more going on than just a friendship and tutoring if you're not careful."

Tracey looked like she wanted to say something as Draco's face went beat-red but the boy opened his mouth before she got out whatever comment she was going to make. "I asked Gabby out the other day!" That stopped the three of them in place as Draco put his head down in an attempt to hide his obvious blush.

Harry was the first one to speak. "Well congratulations then mate! That's excellent, how come you didn't tell us sooner? And so much for Malfoy's not blushing huh? You're about as bright as they come right now."

Draco did his best to look annoyed at him but it soon gave away to a smile. He fought to get his redness under control before responding. "I don't know, I wasn't sure how you guys would take it and all I guess. Neither of us is sure of what will happen when the summer comes and we can't see each other a lot, but we'll cross that when and if we make it there."

They spent the rest of their walk onto the grounds making fun of Draco much to the boy's chagrin. Harry split up with them when they started to head towards the pitch and told them he would catch up with them later.

He wasn't sure if he was actually allowed inside of the Beauxbaxtons carriage, but figured he could at least knock and see if someone could let Fleur know he was there.

When he finally reached the door he knocked on it loudly hoping to get the attention of someone. He wasn't sure if there were people in charge of watching the door or not. He waited for about five minutes before knocking again. No one answered again so he decided to go ahead and try the door handle. To his surprise it opened up with no adverse effects to him. He had expected some type of alarm or something, but nothing. Once inside the carriage he took a second to see if anyone was around that he could ask to get Fleur. He wanted to visit her, but he was still a little uneasy about just entering the carriage without anyone's permission. He was trying to be as discreet as possible at the moment and having someone report him for breaking and entering would not be good.

After waiting for ten minutes in hopes of having someone show up he decided to venture a little further in. He was currently standing in a large lobby area. It had a fireplace off to one side and a bunch of couches, chairs, and benches spread throughout the room. Ahead of him was a long corridor with multiple doors down it. Assuming that was his best start he cautiously made his way down it. He approached the first door and found it labeled with a French plaque. He cursed himself for not learning more French when Sirius had tried to teach him. He racked his brain to see if he knew any translation spells but came up empty on that route to.

He had two decisions to make now. He could either knock and hope that someone would come help him, or just leave and come back at a later time. It was surprising to him how empty the carriage was, where were all the students?

Deciding he had already come this far there was no use going back empty handed he knocked on the door and took a step back. It only took a minute before the door was pushed open. Standing in the door frame were three of the girls from the delegation. Now he just hoped they spoke some type of English.

They were regarding him with questioning looks. None of them were openly hostile, but more curious and confused. Deciding this was his best chance he spoke up. "Hello, I'm Harry Potter. I tried knocking at the main door, but no one answered…do you know where Fleur is?"

When the girls just continued to look at him with confusion on their face he nearly slapped himself in the face. Of course they wouldn't know English. Fleur only knew it because her father was the minister and he had parties where she was sometimes required to talk to foreign diplomats.

He wasn't sure how he could express what he was doing to the girls with his hands. He tried to show them that he was looking for someone, and judging by the way one of the girls was covering her mouth to stifle a laugh he was failing spectacularly. He was just about to accept defeat and leave when one of the girls said something in French to the others and then ran off. He looked back at the other two who were now holding up a finger at him as if to say wait.

He turned back in time to see the other girl disappear through the third door on the right side of the hall. He leaned back against the wall behind him and sighed. Hopefully the girl was getting someone that spoke English. His hair fell into his eyes and he entertained himself by blowing it back up onto his head. This caused more giggles and stifled laughs from the two girls across the hall. After about three or four minutes the girl who had left earlier came back. She was dragging an irate looking Fleur behind her. However as soon as Fleur caught sight of Harry her irritation disappeared and she put a smile on.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" Fleur was genuinely curious as she hadn't expected to see him until tomorrow when she returned to the castle.

"I've been trying to find you. I finally found these three to ask where you were, but then I realized they don't speak English…"

Fleur turned to the three girls as if just now noticing them. She spoke in some rapid French to them and they said something back to her which apparently caused Fleur to laugh and then say something back. This must have upset the girls because they frowned and then went back into the room they had come out of.

Harry was very confused as to what had just happened and voiced it to Fleur. The girl just laughed and motioned for him to follow her while she explained. "I asked them why they had gotten me if they didn't know you were asking for me. Then they said they were hoping I could translate and convince you to take one of them to the ball since you were so handsome. I told them you had a date already and they took that to mean you were my date. I felt no need to correct them."

That was something else Harry had wanted to ask her about. "Fleur who are you going to the ball with? I heard that all of the champions are required to bring a date since they open with the first dance."

It bothered him to know that some other guy was going to bring Fleur to the ball, but as long as it wasn't Longbottom he could live with it.

Fleur frowned when she answered. "I haven't thought about it. Truthfully, I do not want to go with anyone if it is not you. However you are correct in that I have to bring a date. Maybe I could convince Tracey to lend you to me for the first dance?" It was said in a joking manner but Harry heard the slight hint of seriousness in the question.

They stopped in front of what appeared to be a maple door. Above it was a plaque with Fleur's name inscribed into it. She pushed the door opened and gestured for him to go in ahead of her. When he walked in he was surprised to find the place nearly immaculate. It didn't look like a thing was out of place anywhere in the room. The room itself wasn't very impressive but had a homely feel to it. It was about half the size of a Slytherin dorm. The bed was a simple four poster just like theirs. She had a wardrobe in the corner and a desk and vanity placed against the wall directly in front of her bed. Hung on the wall were pictures of her family and herself. He was looking at all the happy waving pictures of her family when he came across one that wasn't family.

He gently pulled the picture off the wall and turned to face Fleur with a question in his eyes.

"I had one of your elves take it Harry. I bribed him with some extra laundry for it to clean. I knew I wouldn't be seeing you for a while and I just wanted something to remember the moments we shared. Do you like it?"

Harry looked back down at the picture in his hand. Whichever elf had taken the picture should really consider a job as a photographer if it ever went free. The picture was done in black and white and was from a night where he and Fleur had gone out onto the deck of the villa to watch the sunset together. She had leaned against the rail and he had come up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist. That's where the picture started. Then in the next moment Harry watched as his picture self leaned down and kissed the back of Fleur's head. She spins around in his arms and locks her hands behind his head. In the heat of the moment Harry had dipped her slightly so that she could rest against the railing and then placed a gentle kiss on her lips. That was the end of the picture then it would restart.

"I really like it Fleur. I wish you had told me you took it, but I like it. It captures the feelings from the summer nicely." He carefully placed the picture back in its spot on the wall and then turned back to her. "Why weren't you at the castle at all today? I thought you might have been sick or something so I came to check up on you."

Fleur's smile left her face and she seemed to hesitate. "I was…attempting to deal with an issue Harry. I appreciate your concern for me though."

There was something she was holding back from him and he knew it. Did it have something to do with the task? Had Maxime even told her about the task yet? "Fleur what is it? Maybe I can help you with whatever it is. You should take this opportunity it's not often I offer my services for free." He tried to lighten the mood to help her relax a little and for a moment it seemed to work.

"I'm sure it is not free Harry; at some point you'll make me…pay…for it." She winked at him before the smile once again left her face. "It is nothing you can help with Harry; this is something I must do on my own."

His interest was piqued now and he wasn't going to let her get off with just those few vague answers. "Come on, you can trust me with anything. Is it something to do with the tournament? Are you nervous?"

She seemed to be weighing in her options, her resolve obviously crumbling. Apparently she hadn't wanted to keep it from him to begin with; most likely she was trying to not be a burden to him. "It does have to do with the tournament. This morning Madame Maxime came to me and told me what the first task is going to be."

Harry did his best to put on a surprised face and it must have worked because she continued on.

"I am not sure how she found out, but the first task is going to be a Cave of Horrors. There will be many beasts in the cave, and even a dragon. However this is not what worries me the most. I am more than capable of dealing with the creatures that will be there. The cave will be completely dark and we will have to go through blind or find a way to make a light source. Harry…please don't laugh, but I am afraid of the dark."

Fleur sat down on the edge of her bed and buried her face into her hands. Harry looked at her for a second before he chuckled and sat down next to her. He placed an arm around her and gave her a small hug.

"Fleur you're not afraid of the dark…you never have a problem being around me after all." She lifted her hands out of her head to look at him before a small smile worked its way on to her face.

"That is not what I meant Harry and you know it. I am so worried that whatever light source I come up with will go out. I do not want to freeze up if that were to happen. This is not for you to worry about though; it is like I said I must find a way to get over this on my own."

Harry was torn as he looked at the girl he cared so much for. He could help her to overcome this fear, but then there was a possibility that her greater talent and knowledge would put her in front of Longbottom. This could potentially help her for the rest of her life though; it was something that could save her outside of the tournament. He knew he had to help her, and with any luck Longbottom would still pull off a miracle win.

"Fleur…I can help you. But only if you trust me completely."

The French witch's head snapped in his direction as her eyes locked with his. She was searching trying to see if he was being honest or just giving her a small hope. "How can you help Harry? I trust you, but I want to know what you would do first."

Harry hesitated and looked at her door before he carefully applied a locking charm and silencing spell. "There is a spell that I can use that will immerse you in the dark. It will completely take away your ability to see light or anything. If you want I will sit here and apply it to you; that way you can work to conquer your fear. At first you might panic from the loss of one of your senses, but you will have to work on calming down and telling yourself to not freak out."

Fleur thought over the idea for a few seconds before slowly nodding her head. "Yes, I need to do this. It is the best way for me to work on my fear. I have been trying to meditate and find a way to alleviate my fears, but I know that alone will not be enough. I need to face them head on."

Harry scowled at her, but there was no real malice behind it. "Careful there Fleur; you're starting to sound like a rash Gryffindor who wants to go charging headlong into the dangerous unknown." Fleur took a seat on the ground and Harry moved to stand in front of her. "Alright on the count of three I'm going to hit you with it. Ready? One, two, three…noxios!" A dull grey light left his wand and impacted Fleur's eyes. Almost immediately after he cast a silencing spell on himself. He didn't want to make any unnecessary sounds and cause Fleur to freak out.

He watched as the effect of the spell was almost instant. The relaxed expression on Fleur's face vanished and became one of sheer terror. For a few seconds she seemed to struggle to get control of her emotions. It wasn't time to lift the spell yet though and as much as he wanted to Fleur needed the full experience so she could come to terms with the fact that she wouldn't be hurt every time she was in the dark.

After a minute of trying to get herself under control Fleur lost it and she rolled onto her side. Her knees came up to her chest as she hugged them to herself. Tears were beginning to leak down the side of her face and Harry knew she was at the point where he could step in. He carefully positioned himself behind her before removing the silencing charm on himself.

"Fleur, Fleur focus on my voice now; nothing is going to hurt you if you just listen to me." Initially the girl froze up when the sound of a new voice was introduced. Her fear addled mind must have made her forget that there was another person already in the room with her. As Harry kept mumbling soothing words of encouragement to her she began to relax.

After about thirty seconds she opened her mouth and spoke for the first time since she had the curse put on her. "Harry? Please help me, it is so dark and I can't find my way out." She got quieter and quieter as her sentence went on to where the last few words were barely above a whisper.

Making sure to be gentle to keep Fleur from panicking he looped one arm underneath her side which was on the ground and proceeded to help her into a sitting position while he continued to soothe her. Once she was sitting upright again Harry moved in front of her and got in a crouching position. He reached for her hand and firmly grasped it with his before speaking again. "I'm right here with you, but you're going to have to follow my voice so I can get you out of the dark, okay? Nod once if you can let go of my hand and stand up." He waited for the reluctant nod and then he let her hand fall back to her side. For a second he thought she might freeze up again and go back to lying on the ground, but then slowly she pushed off of the ground and rose to a standing position.

"Alright now just follow in the direction of my voice Fleur. I'll get you out into the light again if you follow me." He took a step back and called out to her. He waited patiently as she put her hands out in front of her and slowly began to take steps in his direction. Every time she would get close he would take a few more steps back or in another direction. After a few minutes of leading her around the room he cancelled the spell on her.

Fleur blinked a few times as her vision came back to her and the light assaulted her eyes without a care. Once they readjusted she found a smiling Harry standing in front of her. She was back in her room and nothing had happened to her. He hadn't lied. She had listened to him and he had led her out of the dark safely. But when she was in the cave during the task he wouldn't be there with her. She was going to be on her own and would need to be able to work past her fears without the help of his voice. With a new found determination she asked Harry to cast the spell again.

Harry looked at her in surprise for a moment before he raised his wand and gave her the count again. He had a few hours to kill before meeting up with Draco and the slight rush he got from casting the noxios spell was enough on its own to make him not want to leave the room anytime soon. He just hoped he wasn't going to regret giving in and helping Fleur. If something were to happen to her because of his weakness and inability to follow simple instructions he would never forgive himself.

**CHAMBER OF SECRETS**

Draco stepped to the side and safely out of the way as a fire-whip impacted the ground where he had just been standing not even a second before. With a twist of his wand he sent a piercing spell towards his opponent in an attempt to catch him off guard.

Harry was ready for it though and with a quick protego the piercing spell was absorbed and the two were left staring at each other again.

"You've been practicing Draco. I'm impressed; you didn't put up nearly this much of a fight last year when I thoroughly trounced your ass time and time again." He was trying to bait his friend into a rash mistake. It was a strategy he had applied to Longbottom a lot in the beginning years of their education. It had been effective up until the boy had started working with Dumbledore. Every now and then the boy would still lose control of his emotions, but that was to be expected from a teenage boy.

Unfortunately Draco wasn't just any normal teenage. He had the same advantage Harry did of living with a powerful wizard and one who was willing to teach what he knew. Sirius had told Harry more than once about how skilled of a duelist Lucius was. It seemed like he had started to pass that knowledge onto Draco if the boy's sudden increase in skill was anything to go by.

Harry prepared to shield when he saw Draco start waving his wand again. The boy didn't have quite the arsenal of dark spells that Harry did yet, but that would be easy enough to solve. He ducked out of the way as a blood-boiler flew inches above his head.

"Lacerous! Criormortis!" Harry was surprised when Draco opted to take a partial hit by the lacerating curse so that he could fully block the acid curse. His momentary shock cost him though as Draco never stopped at the countering of his curse.

"Suffocant!" The white light impacted him in the torso and he started to feel the effects. It would take a few minutes to take full effect, but the suffocating curse was an effective way to torture prisoners. Harry suspected Draco had cast it in hopes that he didn't know the counter yet. He had at least three minutes until the curse would really start to hinder him, so he decided to have some fun.

"Imperio!" using an Unforgivable on a person gave the caster a rush of emotions that could be hard to handle. Harry was battling with Draco's own emotions and will while also trying to keep the utter sense of euphoria from taking control of him.

"Throw down your wand Draco." For a moment it looked like Draco was going to do it. The boy raised his arm out and made as if to throw the wand only for a smirk to come across his face and the wand to slash violently down as he called out "Flagrate flagellum!"

Harry cursed as he dove out of the way. He had gotten to confident that Draco was about to lose and his control over him slipped. His breath was becoming ragged now and it was harder to suck in so he decided it was time to counter the suffocating curse before it became any more serious.

He dusted himself off and turned to find Draco with his wand pointed at him smirking. The boy was getting too cocky and thought that he was going to win. Harry decided to fix that right then and there. His wand was a blur of motion as he fired off his next chain of spells.

"Cutustilo! Noxios! Indutanti!"

Draco's eyes widened marginally at the speed of the casting. He didn't have any idea what the first and last spell were, but knew he was doomed if he was made blind. He resignedly let the first spell hit him in the leg as he moved out of the way of the second and shielded against the third. He brought his wand up to fire back but immediately dropped to a knee when his leg erupted into pain. He looked down to see the fabric of his pants starting to burn away and give sight to his skin blistering red.

The rash was spreading quickly up his leg as he tried frantically to stop it. The pain was increasing as the skin turned from red to a black. He saw a red beam of light come careening towards him and didn't have a chance as the stunner knocked him unconscious.

Harry walked over with his bag and muttered the counter curse to his skin-burning hex. It had only spread about ten inches from the spot it had originally impacted so that would make it easy to deal with. He pulled a jar of the burn cream he had made out of his bag and began applying it. With two or three applications the skin would be fine in a day or two, but still tender.

He checked his healing work over once more and then decided it was time to wake up Draco. He muttered a quick enervate and watched as the boy sat up and looked at his leg immediately.

"Don't worry Draco I already started healing it for you. Put this cream on one or two more times and you should be good as new by tomorrow."

Draco nodded as he inspected his leg glad to see that the damage wasn't too severe. Once he was satisfied that everything possible to help had been done he turned to Harry. "What was that spell? That last one you sent at me also, actually. I knew what the middle one was as father taught it to me this summer, but the other two I've never even seen mentioned before."

Harry smirked. The two spells had been slightly obscure and he only knew them thanks to Sirius having pulled a few books out of the Black Family Library that he could study from.

"The one that actually hit you is a skin-burner. In a way it mimics the effects that dragon-fire would have on the skin, but in a much slower manner. It's meant to draw out the pain of burning to death. It starts at wherever the spell impacts, and then the skin just starts to burn and the rash will spread until it covers all of you."

Draco looked at Harry with a grimace. "You're a sick fuck Potter. If you had hit me any higher my family jewels could have been in some serious danger."

Harry just smirked at his friend. "Ending the Malfoy line? I wonder if they would throw me in prison for that or give me an award for saving humanity…?"

Harry carefully sidestepped the stinging hex sent his way. "The last curse I sent at you doesn't have any physical effects. It's slightly darker because it is mind altering magic. It would have put you in a coma of sorts and forced you to relive nightmare after nightmare. If left like that for too long it can literally drive the victim insane."

Draco's eyes widened again and he thanked the gods he was able to dodge that particular curse. "I take it back Potter, you're not a sick fuck…you're just plain sadistic."

Harry laughed and offered his friend a hand up. "Maybe but at least I'm not the one lying on the ground with a leg burning up. Go ahead and start casting some of the spells we've been using in classes so we can try and mask the aura of dark magic around us. While I doubt anyone besides Dumbledore and Snape will be able to sense it that phoenix might be a problem."

For the next thirty minutes the two cast different charms and Harry helped Draco work on his transfiguration. The two left the chamber exhausted, but happy with the results of their practicing. Draco had truly made leaps and bounds in his work.

When the two split ways they agreed to try and practice at least once a week from then on. Harry entered his room feeling better than he had in a while. He had missed the feeling that dark magic gave when it was cast. He had been able to enjoy the feeling in the chamber for a while and it set him free. He would have to go back to hiding it now, but someday he would be able to use it openly. As he laid down for bed he had a medley of thoughts go through his mind. Had he made the right choice in helping Fleur? He sincerely hoped so, but part of him was screaming at himself for not just sticking with the plan. If she had seized up and not have been able to finish it almost guaranteed she would lose and then be in no danger.

Only time would tell if he had made the right decision so he would have to wait and see now. Tomorrow he would make sure Longbottom was on all the right tracks for studying the creatures and that rune torch. He sighed as he closed his eyes and let the darkness taking him. Playing both sides without being caught by one was difficult and tiring, he didn't know how Sirius did it for so long.


	27. Leaving Soon

A/N

This story is not abandoned, but is on a temporary hiatus. I leave in a few days on deployment again, so I'm spending the little time I have left with my family, friends, and setting my affairs in order. Hopefully I'll have some time to write while I'm out and will have 2 or 3 chapters to post when I return.


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